


The Next Morning

by FrozenSnares



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anon Prompt, Breakfast, F/M, Family Dinner, Game Night, Hangover, Kissing, Married Life, Minor Arya Stark/Gendry Waters, Minor Bran Stark/Jojen Reed - Freeform, Minor Catelyn Stark/Ned Stark, Minor Robb Stark/Margaery Tyrell, Minor Theon Greyjoy/Jeyne Poole, Morning After, Nudity, One Night Stand, Robbaery - Freeform, Shyness, Slice of Life, crossposted from my tumblr, make out sessions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2018-04-03 14:37:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 76,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4104508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrozenSnares/pseuds/FrozenSnares
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shireen wakes up in an unknown apartment to discover that she has had a one night stand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [13letters](https://archiveofourown.org/users/13letters/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cross-posted from my [tumblr](http://frozensnares.tumblr.com) for the lovely Gaby!  
> This is for everyone who is still angry about that episode.

With a sudden jolt awake, Shireen pushed herself up. Only one thought was clear in her mind: _Fuck._ It was soon joined with many others. _Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._ The effects of a hangover were pounding at her head. She needed some aspirin. She needed a shower. And she needed to figure out where the fuck she was.

Slowly, she climbed out of the bed. It was a fairly nice bed with dark grey and black sheets, but it was entirely unfamiliar to her and that was not helping. Looking around, she noticed that the room was extremely sparse. There were almost no decorations, and it was a bit unsettling. Hugging herself, Shireen almost curled back into the bed.

She wasn’t wearing anything.

FUCK.

Quickly, she sought out her clothes, finding her bra and underwear near the door. She spotted a glass of water on the nightstand and went to drink it. Before she did, she noticed two small pills next to it. Spending the time to stare at the tiny lettering, she withstood the headache and read that they were actually aspirin. She took the pills and downed the water.

Feeling only marginally better, Shireen began to slowly explore the room. She felt grossly over-exposed in her underwear and desperately wished she remembered what she had been wearing the night before so she knew what she was looking for. She thought back to the night before.

She remembered hearing her parents talk about sending her off. They had been discussing it at length, and she was furious. Right. Gritting her teeth, Shireen remembered calling all of her friends to distract her. No one had been available, and she went to the bars by herself. There had definitely been plenty of flirting. A lot of guys had tried to make some moves on her before being revolted by her face. Then, there was that one guy…

He was a blur in her memory. Thinking back on it, he was probably flat-out drunk, too. No one ever intentionally flirted with her once they caught sight of her. Most of the times, designated drivers intervened so their friends didn’t sleep with someone as ugly as her. There was some source of chaos in her memory. She was almost positive that there had been a bar fight. She remembered bright lights after… a bathroom, maybe. _Right_ … there had been kissing. Lots of kissing.

With a groan, she remembered making out with a complete stranger. They had moved from the bathroom and into the hallway before they got kicked out. They had definitely continued making out on the street before they went home. His home. With him. On a motorcycle.

She was terrified of motorcycles. How had she gotten on one with a completely drunk stranger? From there, everything seemed to fall into place. They went to his (probably) apartment, and she had actually had a one night stand.

One questioned remained: Where was he now?

Maybe he woke up, saw her face, and bailed so she could leave on her own. That was definitely the most likely scenario. If that was the case, she definitely needed to leave. Fast, too. First, she had to find her clothes and her phone. However, the prospect of searching an unknown apartment in only her underwear was terrifying.

Hesitantly, she started searching through the drawers, trying to find a shirt. While she thought she’d be worried about finding a box of condoms, it was oddly comforting to her now. After a few drawers, she located his shirts. Only a few colors were available, so she pulled out a plain grey shirt. It fell past her hips, and she breathed out a sigh of relief. Giving the room one last look, she slowly opened the door.

Immediately the scent of bacon filled her. She was hungry. And there was bacon just down the hall. Resisting the urge to follow her nose, Shireen searched around for her clothes. She peeked into a closet, finding nothing of hers. The next room she looked into was a bathroom. She was going to dismiss it completely, but, when she heard footsteps approaching, she ran inside and locked the door.

There was no way she was going to get past this. If whoever was out there was awake and sober, there was no way she was ever going to live this down. Sitting down on the tile, Shireen tried to get a hold of herself. She needed to make it someplace safe, so she could figure out all the shit that was going on in her personal life. She didn’t need a one night stand to make anything worse. Standing, Shireen went to the sink and splashed water on her face. She could get through this. She was strong enough. Before she left to the door, something caught her eye in the trashcan: a condom. Maybe her drunk mind wasn’t terribly stupid after all.

With a short sigh, she opened the door, glancing around to make sure no one was watching her. Then, she slowly crept out. After the short hallway was the kitchen and living room. All of her clothes were piled nicely on a table, and she could see her purse and cell phone placed on top. Again, the various smells of breakfast foods hit her, and she was tempted to nick some food before making her escape. She made it to her stuff when someone said, “Oh, you’re up.”

Jumping about a foot in the air, Shireen turned around sharply. There was a tall boy standing at the entrance to the hallway. Actually, ‘boy’ wasn’t the right word. There was a chance he was younger than her, but he was definitely taller. He had a fair bit of muscle on him as well. Shireen tore her gaze away before looking at anything else to distract herself.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said quickly. She heard him take a step forward and flinched away from the sound. He stopped.

Shireen took a full thirty seconds to brace herself and get her breathing even. She could get through this. She _had_ to get through this. Looking up again, she found him standing in front of the stove. He was flipping pancakes and putting them down on a plate. He finished up and turned back to her slowly. Finally, she allowed herself to look at him.

He was incredibly tall, with eyes like ice and messy auburn hair that looked like it was rarely combed. His face looked sheepish at the moment, but she was positive that a certain look from him would make anyone cower. There was also a purplish bruise that had formed over his left eye and a small cut on his cheekbone.

“I made you breakfast,” he said quietly. He slowly moved forward and placed a plate filled with pancakes, eggs, and bacon on the table. “I’m really sorry about yesterday—er, last night. I was a little drunk, and I’m not entirely sure what happened.”

He looked as if he was trying to gauge her response. Shireen hugged herself again, trying to organize her thoughts. After a minute, Shireen found her voice. “It’s not your fault,” she mumbled. “I was really drunk, and you probably were, too. I mean, you didn’t know that I was so ugly…”

“First off, I was not that drunk,” he said pointedly. “And second, you are _not_ ugly.”

Shireen stared wide-eyed him. This was not how she was expecting this morning to go. She took a deep sigh and said, “Don’t spare me. I know how this works. I’ll just leave.”

“I did make food,” he said quickly, stepping toward her. He stopped and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I mean, you can also shower and change and stuff before you leave. And, um, I…”

Staring at him, Shireen didn’t move. She was extremely curious as to what he was going to say. He definitely looked like nothing was going as he rehearsed. Just as she was going to say something, he started rushing out a bunch of words.

“I called my sister before you woke up, and she’s already promised to kick my ass if you want her to.”

She wasn’t sure how it was possible for him to talk so fast. He pointed to a box on the table and kept going.

“She brought me those for you, and I wrote down my phone number in case any shit happens. I mean, I don’t want to bail on you if something does happen because I don’t know if drunk me remembers how to put on condoms correctly. My sister also left her number so you can call her if you hate me now. And then she can kick my ass again. But, um, you’re welcome to eat everything I made, and I’ll, like, actually take you to dinner if you want me to. Oh, and she brought you some clothes in case you want to change before you head out. And I’ll just leave you alone to do whatever you want before you leave.”

Still slumping down, he skirted out of the room. A distance away, she heard his bedroom door close. After a moment, she glanced down at the table. Next to her clothes was a box of morning-after pills along with a paper that had three phone numbers on it. _Sansa Stark, Arya Stark,_ and _Rickon Stark._ He must be Rickon, and those were probably his sisters. A paper bag next to the table had a sundress in it, along with a full set of clothes.

Without meaning to, Shireen sat down to eat. She was extremely hungry and definitely needed something in her stomach. She carefully read the instructions on the pills, making sure to follow them exactly. When she was halfway through her plate, she started thinking about Rickon. He definitely seemed beaten up about this, too. It wasn’t his fault that they were both drunk and got thrown into a messy situation. There had to be a way to make this better.

Wandering the kitchen, Shireen made another plate of food for him. She heated both plates in the microwave, found some forks, and headed back into his room.

Rickon was lying face-down on his bed, making all sorts of grumbling noises. When she sat down on the edge, he moved to look at her and immediately began talking again.

“I didn’t mean to be a dick,” he said, much more slowly this time. “I should know better. I should have stopped myself. You’re welcome to hate me and rob me or whatever you want to do.”

Setting the plate next to him, Shireen said, “It’s not your fault. And I don’t hate you. I’m just going through a lot of shit right now and went out by myself. Definitely my fault.”

“For the record, you _are_ really pretty,” Rickon said, giving her a small smile. “If I hadn’t been drunk last night, I’d have asked you out on a proper date.”

Shireen tried to laugh. “Yeah, right… Don’t spare me,” she said sharply. “People don’t exactly want to be seen in public with me.”

“Well, I punched a guy to prove you wrong, so…” Rickon stuffed some pancake into his mouth.

Shireen finished her bite and gave him a questioning look. She gestured to his face with her fork. “Is that where the shiner came from?”

Rickon laughed. “Yup,” he said. “I saw some asshole blow you off and call you ugly, so I punched him in the face. He got me back, but I… Fuck… I was going to say that I got you, but that sounds really bad… I’m really sorry about all this.”

Shireen shrugged, picking at some bacon and nibbling on it. He really did feel bad about everything. It was kind of comforting to see how he was taking it. At least he wasn’t trying to get rid of her quickly.

“So let’s say you were sober,” Shireen mused out loud. “Like right now… You’re sober, right?”

“And seriously thinking about swearing off alcohol forever,” Rickon said.

“So you’re completely sober… And be honest. Would you seriously consider fucking me?”

Immediately, his face flushed. His mouth opened a few times before she saw him swallow. She gave him a challenging look. Rickon set his jaw. “Completely honestly,” he started slowly. “I was ecstatic to find you in my bed this morning. I, um, was thinking about sleepy morning sex before I realized that I didn’t know your name and that I fucked up. However, if you wanted to, I’d be down to have completely sober, consensual sex with you, but I would like to know your name first.”

He was incredibly cute when he was shy. Shireen found herself grinning at her plate, thinking about how attentive and protective he was before she realized that she hadn’t said anything. Glancing up, she saw that he looked extremely nervous. He was even messing with his fork, and it was all very adorable. With a small smile, she said, “Shireen.”

He lit up, grinning at her. “Rickon.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said. “Your name was on the list of phone numbers.”

“Right,” he said.

“So Rickon…” Shireen said, trying to figure out where the conversation was supposed to go from here. She had literally never been in this situation before. It had already gone loads better than she thought it would.

He looked up at her. “Yes, Shireen?”

Something in her stomach flipped. He was looking at her with such unabashed intensity. Shireen had dated a few guys in the past, but never had any of them looked at her like that. He was fixated on her. She thought her heart was going to explode. She made a small incoherent sound, and he laughed. He continued to smile at her, and then he stood up. He stretched his arms upwards before taking both of the empty plates. Shireen sat in stunned silence as he left to the kitchen. She heard the water start running.

After a while, she collected herself. This is definitely the best outcome she could have ever expected. He was probably a much better person than the last few guys she dated, and he seemed like he genuinely liked her. Slowly, she made her way back into the kitchen.

Rickon had his back to her, cleaning up the dishes and other things in the kitchen. Shireen felt a strange urge to go press up against him and hug him tight. She took a few steps forward when the water stopped. She froze, watching him dry his hands. He turned around and looked over to her. A smile grew across his face.

“Yes, my dear?” he asked. He seemed to be reaching for her when he realized what he said. His hand stopped, and worry crossed his face. His mouth dropped open, but no sound came out.

With a small smile, Shireen stepped forward. She reached up to hold his face and pulled him down for a kiss. It took a moment for him to realize what was happening. Then, his arms wrapped around her waist, and she could feel his muscles tightening as he pulled her closer. A fire was roaring in her stomach, and she wanted him. Especially if he wanted her as much as he said he did.

Pulling back slightly, she asked, “Are you sure?”

He chuckled, capturing her lips once more and deepening the kiss. She melted into the kiss, feeling his tongue exploring her mouth and licking against hers. With a moan, she pressed up against him. It wasn’t until his hands slid down to her legs that she remembered she was only wearing his shirt. He seemed to remember it, too, playing with the hem and tracing his fingers over her legs. Smiling against her mouth, he asked, “That was my shirt, wasn’t it?”

“I’ll give it back,” Shireen said between breaths.

“Keep it,” he said. “I like seeing you in it.”

Then continued kissing in the kitchen until Shireen pulled him back to his room. She pulled him over her on the bed, kissing him full on the mouth. Rickon responded the way she always imagined someone would, and she didn’t even stop to think about what got them here. She tore at his clothes, wanting to be closer to him. They were both in their underwear when he stopped.

Looking down at her, Shireen felt like she was the only person he ever cared about. She smiled up at him and he returned it, kissing her lightly.

“So how about I buy you dinner tomorrow?” he asked, pressing kisses down her neck.

“That sounds great,” she mumbled out.

Rickon kissed her for another few minutes before pulling away. “Great,” he said, grinning. “Then, maybe I can finish this when we’ve done it right.”

“You’re just going to stop?” she asked, sitting up.

“I want to do this properly,” he said, squeezing her hand.

“Then, get over here and fuck me properly,” she retorted.

He grinned at her before throwing himself over her. His full weight was crushing her, but it felt so nice to have him close. She wrapped her legs around his hips before he tried moving away again. Then, she dug her hands into his hair, keeping him against her. They were both breathing hard in between kisses, and Shireen kept trying to move closer and closer to him. Unfortunately, he managed to pull away again.

“Okay, seriously,” he said. “Dinner first.”

“But you made me breakfast.”

“That was an apology.”

“I’m okay with it.”

“I’m not.”

“Fine.” She crossed her arms over her chest, looking pointedly at the ceiling.

She heard his laughter from across the room and slumped down slightly. She didn’t think she’d be genuinely disappointed about this. She glanced up in time to see him moving toward her. Keeping his distance, he pressed a kiss to her scarred cheek. She could feel the butterflies in her stomach. Grinning, Rickon pulled away.

“You can still call my sisters to kick my ass if you want.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this helps! Let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone asked for a multi-chapter fic, so here's a chapter two.

Shireen was starting to think that she should swear off bars. She never had any real fun here unless she was with friends, and they were getting busier right when she needed them. Maybe she just needed more friends. Sipping at her ginger ale, she glanced around. A part of her was hoping that Rickon would show up again. She hadn’t seen him in three weeks since the near-disaster at his place.

She bit back a smile, remembering the chaos of the day that followed. His sisters had removed her from his apartment, insisting that she go see a doctor and get checked up. They even went so far as to get her started with therapy in case she had been scarred by the event. She felt fine, though, and things had definitely turned out better than she thought. Now, she just wanted to see him again. She wanted to know that things didn’t happen between them just because they had been drunk the night before.

Leaning back against the bar, Shireen watched the mess of people crowding the room. They all seemed to be enjoying the night with their random hook-ups and flirting. Shireen wished she could join that bunch of people again. After all, she was just dreading her return home later today. Her parents were still trying to kick her out secretly, and she was trying to beat them to it. Most of her things were in storage or her car, and she just wanted to be done with it all.

Just as she was thinking about leaving, someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to face a pair of beautiful blue eyes, no longer marred by a massive bruise.

“Shireen?” Rickon asked, grinning at her.

She nodded, taking a drink of her ginger ale to give herself a moment.

“Is it okay if I join you?” he asked slowly. She nodded, tapping the seat beside her. He breathed out a sigh of relief. “I was starting to think you just didn’t want to see me again. I mean, you haven’t called, and I still owe you dinner.”

“You don’t owe me dinner,” Shireen said, putting her glass down. “I just came to an agreement with your sisters that I wouldn’t try anything for a while. They thought I needed some time away after what happened…”

Rickon winced. “Yeah… how did that go?”

“It didn’t, actually,” Shireen said, watching confusion take over his face. “Nothing happened that night. I guess we were too drunk to manage it properly.”

“That’s a relief,” Rickon said, slumping down next to her. He glanced up at her and reached for one of her hands. “I mean, you’re worth much more attention than a one night stand. Can I actually get you dinner now?”

“I’m not going to hold you to that,” Shireen said. She adjusted her seat and turned toward him, brushing her hair over her shoulder. “I mean, you don’t have to pretend that it’s fine, or that you actually want to date me. It’s fine. I get it. You’re probably drunk again anyway.”

Rickon laughed, leaning into her. “No, I just want to get in your pants because I think you’re beautiful,” he said, staring intently at her. “And I can’t be drunk. I’m a designated driver for tonight.”

He held up his wrist that had a bracelet signifying that bartenders couldn’t give him alcohol. Shireen tapped the bracelet and leaned back. “Who’re you here with then?”

“Watching over my friends,” he said. “They’re pretty chill, but they’re going a bit crazy for a birthday. I just have to make sure that nothing happens like... Excuse me for a bit.”

Shireen watched as Rickon quickly hurried off to a pair of girls who were giggling in a corner. He held out a hand seriously, and one of the girls pouted at him before handing over a small plastic bag. Rickon patted her on the head before heading back. He settled back in the seat. “Seriously,” he said. “I don’t know how she keeps getting weed, but she told me that she didn’t want to have any tonight.”

“Your girlfriend?” Shireen asked, still eyeing the two girls who were now taking shots.

“No, that one’s fucking my best friend,” he said bluntly. He reached over and took a drink out of her ginger ale. “Her friend wanted a birthday party without him involved, so I got roped into it.”

“Sounds fun,” Shireen said, taking her glass back.

“Well, this kinda makes everything worth it.” Rickon leaned closer to her and brushed his fingers through her hair. Shireen tried to ignore the way her stomach was fluttering at his touch. His eyes never left hers, even when his fingers traveled across her neck and skimmed over the scars on her left cheek. A breath got caught in her throat, and Shireen couldn’t help but think that this was not a place where actually romance happened, but Rickon didn’t seem to care one bit. He brought his lips to ear, brushing over those scars and whispered, “Can I kiss you again?”

Shireen felt like she couldn’t breathe, much less respond. Her chest was in a knot, and she was positive that her heart was going to stop working soon. She tried to nod, but they were interrupted when a girl crashed into Rickon.

“Rickon, Alys won’t let me have some of her peanuts!” she cried out. Shireen was slightly taken aback by her green hair, but she just watched Rickon to see how he responded.

Taking a deep breath, Rickon turned to the girls. “Why the fuck did you bring peanuts?” he asked the girl called Alys. “You know that Wylla’s allergic.”

“She’s just pretending to be allergic,” Alys giggled out.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Rickon asked. “You know what. Never mind. I don’t care. Have either of you eaten any?” 

Both girls shook their heads. Rickon held out a hand for the bag of peanuts. He inspected it for any tears and then pocketed it, waving them away. They didn’t budge. Alys and Wylla were swaying on the spot, looking at him expectantly. 

“Do you want to go home or something?” Rickon asked. “Or maybe figure out where Lyanna ran off to?”

The girls shared a fit of giggles before Wylla said, “Aren’t you going to introduce us to your girlfriend?”

Shireen felt her cheeks burning, and Rickon’s face also went red. He cleared his throat loudly before turning to face the girls. He tried to whisper, but talking over the music made him loud enough for Shireen to hear. “I can’t exactly ask her to be my girlfriend if you guys keep hovering around here.”

He gave her a sly glance, and she looked away quickly busying herself with her drink. The girls fell into a fit of giggles and skipped away, joining up with another girl. Shireen watched Rickon rub at his face before sighing and slowly turning back to her.

“Sorry about them,” he said. “They’re just drunk and don’t know what they’re doing.”

“I think we can agree that we’ve both been there before,” Shireen said. She offered him her drink again.

Rickon took the drink and drank deeply before putting it down. “Wait, why am I taking your drink?” he asked. “I should be buying you drinks! What do you want?”

Shireen laughed, waving a hand at him. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “It’s just ginger ale.”

“Yeah, but I get free drinks,” Rickon said, hailing down a bartender and getting them more refills. He even went so far as to get them Shirley Temples with extra cherries. Once he settled back down and ate a few cherries, he rolled a stem between his teeth. “Can you tie one in a knot?”

“I’ve never actually tried,” Shireen said, plucking a cherry into her mouth. 

“Wanna race?” Rickon asked. He was smiling slyly at her, leaning onto the counter with one elbow.

Shireen turned only slightly more toward him. She toyed with the stem and asked, “Are you trying to figure out if I’m a good kisser before you kiss me again?”

“Well, you haven’t agreed to kiss me yet,” Rickon said. “And I’m thinking maybe I can persuade you to agree.”

Raising her eyebrows at him, Shireen placed the stem in her mouth and began working at trying to tie it into a knot. Rickon grinned at her, putting his own in his mouth and working at his own. They sat together in silence for a while until a triumphant look crossed Rickon’s face. He pulled out the cherry stem with a victorious “Ha!”

Shireen just laughed, taking her only slightly bent stem out. She took a long drink out of her glass.

Rickon leaned closer to her. “So what do you say?”

Swallowing, Shireen leaned just partially closer to him. Right before she was going to respond, another girl crashed into Rickon.

“Rickon, no one likes me!” she said.

Shireen didn’t recognize this girl. She must be the one who went missing: Lyanna. She making a bit of a fuss over Rickon’s lap, pouting up at him, and the other two girls came back into view. Rickon let out a heavy sigh. “And why does no one like you?” he asked calmly. 

“No one wants to kiss me!” she said. “And I’m adorable!”

“They don’t have to kiss you, Lya,” Alys said. “Maybe you aren’t adorable.”

Lyanna started pretending to cry, and Rickon shot Alys a harsh glare. Alys staggered back a few paces. Lyanna tugged at Rickon’s sleeve. “You think I’m adorable, right?”

“Sure,” Rickon said, glancing around. Shireen was stifling her laughter.

“Then kiss me!” Lyanna said, throwing herself toward him. 

Rickon caught her by the shoulders, holding her a foot away. He forced a smile and gently pushed her away. “I’m not going to kiss you,” he said firmly. “Now, go off and meet some drunk people or I’m taking you home.”

The girls all fussed about, slowly wandering away. Shireen watched Rickon throw his head back. “They seem fun,” she said.

“I am never agreeing to babysit them again,” Rickon said. “They’re perfectly normal people when they’re sober, but once they’re drunk they just start trying to make out with me. It’s ridiculous.”

“I think that means they like you,” Shireen said, stirring her drink with a straw. She looked over at him, watching him gnaw on his lip. The fluttering in her stomach was still present, despite all the interruptions. He was just so handsome, and he actually paid her attention while sober, which was more than she could say for any other guys.

“If they liked me, then they’ve had plenty of opportunities to tell me,” Rickon said, picking up his glass again. “I’ve known them for years.”

“Oh, I see,” Shireen said with an exaggerated lull.

“What are you seeing?” Rickon asked. “The truth of the female mind?”

“Well, if you’ve known them for a really long time, then they probably made up their minds not to like you when you were still young and awkward,” Shireen said, sipping at her drink. “Then, you just went on and sprouted up a few more inches, becoming steadily more attractive, and now they need a proper reason to get together with you so they don’t break their girl code.”

Rickon opened his mouth to respond quickly before shutting it. He glanced around for a bit before turning back to Shireen with a smug look on his face. “You think I’m attractive?”

Shireen bit her lip, looking around before meeting his eyes. “I’d have to be blind to think otherwise,” she said.

“Why’s that?” Rickon asked, licking his lips slowly.

Getting caught up staring at his lips, Shireen coughed lightly and looked away. “Let’s talk about something else,” she said.

“Do you want to remind me what we were talking about before they came?” he asked.

“I think you were trying to kiss me,” Shireen said sheepishly.

Rickon caught her gaze again. He was looking intently at her, and his eyes seemed to be burning. “I’ve been trying to do that since I saw you,” he said. “We just keep getting interrupted, and you haven’t said yes yet.”

“Do I have to say yes?” Shireen asked, paying more attention to her drink again.

“After what happened, or almost happened, last time, I’m going to say that it’s mandatory,” Rickon said. “Unless you don’t want to kiss me, which is perfectly fine. But I would like to remind you that I can tie cherry stems into knots with my tongue and you think I’m attractive.”

“Are you still trying to vie for a chance?” Shireen asked. “Do you even remember what I look like in daylight?”

Rickon rolled his eyes. “I’m not stupid,” he said. He lifted a hand to run his fingertips over her cheek. “You’ve got these gorgeous scars that make your beautiful blue eyes look like sapphires. Not to mention your amazing black hair that is so incredibly soft, I wouldn’t want to touch anything else ever again… Except that you start to blush the loveliest shade of red every time my fingers head somewhere else, and I think you really like it.”

As he spoke, his hands traveled over her face, through her hair, down her arms, and across her stomach. Just like he said, she felt her skin burning every time he grazed her skin. Even through the material of her shirt, she could feel the heat growing in her stomach. He kept leaning into her, getting dangerously close to letting his lips touch her skin. Slowly, he pulled away. Shireen felt a huge breath escape him.

“How about we go get that dinner?” he asked. “I’ll call you with details.”

“You don’t want to kiss me?” she breathed out.

Rickon let out a small groan. “I just know that as soon as I do, those idiots are going to come back and demand to go home,” he explained. “So I’ll settle for your number until there’s no one to interrupt us. After all, I have to kiss you properly.”

“What does that mean?” Shireen asked, her voice barely audible over the loud music of the bar.

Just as Rickon predicted, the three girls bounded up to him yet again, asking loudly for their ride home because they were bored. Rickon gave Shireen a small smile, which she returned. He slowly stood up and started pushing them toward the exit. As he was leaving, Shireen caught sight of his phone in his jacket pocket. She cleverly plucked it away and entered her own number while he tried to push the girls away from him.

“If you don’t behave, I’m not taking you out again,” he threatened. The three girls all looked disappointed, but left toward the exit. Rickon turned back to Shireen. “Unfortunately, I have to see them home safely.”

Shireen stood, looking up at him. “You know, the night doesn’t end after you take them home,” she said. Then, she tapped his phone against his chest.

Slowly, a grin spread across his face. He blindly reached for his phone without breaking eye contact. “I thought you didn’t want to repeat the last time.”

“I’m sure we can manage,” she said. “Did you maybe want to text me your address?”

“Sure,” he said, smiling stupidly at his phone before pressing a quick kiss to her cheek. He licked his lips. “I’ll see you later.”

Shireen smiled after him until her phone lit up with an incoming text message. Then, she memorized a route to his apartment. With a new spring to her step, she ran out to her car and quickly drove over to his place. Her heart was racing the entire drive there. When she parked in the spot he told her to park in, she sat in the car for a full three minutes before heading upstairs to his apartment. Still, she was there a full five minutes before him.

Rickon headed up the stairs slowly, giving her a strange look. Self-consciously, Shireen rubbed at her cheek. She focused instead on the helmet in his hand as he unlocked the door. She had half a mind to just leave, but he pulled her in.

“Do you want to tell me why the back of your car has a ton of shit in it?” he asked as soon as the door was locked behind them. “Someone’s going to break into your car.”

Shireen sighed, still rubbing at her cheek. Rickon pulled her hand down and planted a kiss on her cheek. She let out a sigh, grit her teeth, and said, “I’m still dealing with some stuff.”

Rickon frowned at her. “What kind of stuff?”

“Aren’t we just supposed to be making out?” Shireen asked, trying to avoid the topic.

“That was going to be after dinner tomorrow anyway,” Rickon said. He wandered into his kitchen and put some popcorn into the microwave. They looked at each other in silence until it finished, and then he led her into the living room. They sat down on the couch together. “What’s going on?” he asked, eating some popcorn.

“I’m not just going to unload onto you,” Shireen said, distracting herself with the popcorn. “It’s a mess.”

“So am I,” Rickon said. “Come on. I’ll meet you one for one.”

Shireen narrowed her eyes at him. “I need to move out.”

Rickon nodded appreciatively. “I moved out when I was eighteen,” he said.

Shireen’s mouth opened for a bit before she closed it. “My dad’s new girlfriend would rather see me dead, and my mom’s never shown that she cares for me.”

Rickon winced. “I’m the youngest of basically seven kids, and I think my parents like my cousin and that neighborhood kid who moved in more than me.”

“I’ve had this fucking disgusting scar on my face since I was four,” Shireen said. “I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to look like.”

“I used to pick fights for attention. I thought my parents might try to acknowledge me if I became a problem.”

“I was sent to live with a family friend for five years while my parents went through a nasty divorce.”

“My parents sent me away to a correctional institution because they didn’t want to deal with me.”

“My friends are always too busy to hang out with me.”

“My ‘best friend’ doesn’t think I exist when he has a girlfriend.”

“Every guy I’ve ever dated only wanted to fuck me before never talking to me again.”

“Assholes.”

“Not the game.”

“The only girl I had a crush on told me that I wouldn’t be worth all the problems I’d cause.”

“Only girl?”

“Oh, I don’t have a crush on you.”

Shireen opened her mouth to make a comment, but she stopped herself. “I’ve been living out of my car because I can’t stand going back to either of my parents’ houses.”

“I tried to get arrested because I thought someone might actually pay attention to me then.”

“You know, we’re really fucked up.”

Rickon and Shireen picked at the popcorn for the next few minutes. They didn’t look at each other. They just let the silence press in around them in the nearly empty apartment. There were no decorations here, either, just the couch, a coffee table, a TV, and some video games. Shireen tried to stare ahead without looking at anything. She still needed a way to figure out what was going on. Rickon finally broke the silence. “I’ve always wanted a dog.”

Shireen smiled. “I used to try to chase rainbows.”

“I thought I could grow up to be a dinosaur.”

“I like to read books for fun.”

“I once stayed up for three days to finish playing a video game.”

“I still like to dress up for Halloween.”

“I really like it when my siblings randomly ask me for things.”

“I used to think that I’d be pretty when I grew up.”

“You are pretty.”

“Says the ridiculously handsome boy.”

“Says the absolutely gorgeous woman.”

They fell into another bout of silence. Rickon finished the popcorn and put the bowl on the table. He leaned into the couch with an arm stretched across the back of it. His fingers were dangling near her shoulder. “You’re seriously the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”

“You look like you should be a prince.”

“You have the most beautiful eyes.”

“Your hair looks really fun to play with.”

“Just looking at you makes my heart jump out of my chest.”

“I’ve been staring at your lips for the past hour.”

“I’ve been dying to hold you in my arms again.”

“I’d really like it if you kissed me now.”

“I think I’m in love with you.”

Shireen froze, staring wide-eyed at Rickon. He swallowed, trying to meet her gaze. Putting a hand over her mouth, Shireen tried to suck in another breath. She glanced away before looking at him again. Rickon’s head was bowed slightly, and he looked at her through his eyelashes. He was biting his lip and picking at his pants.

“I don’t think you want to do that,” Shireen said slowly, looking away. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m going through a lot. I’m a disaster. You can’t fix me.”

Rickon shook his head, reaching out to touch her hair. “I’m not trying to fix you,” he said softly. “You’re not broken.”

Shireen could feel the tears welling in her eyes. She had waited her entire life for someone to treat her like this, and she couldn’t believe that it would ever happen. It probably wasn’t happening. He probably just wanted a good fuck since he didn’t get any last time. Pushing the tears back, she looked Rickon dead in the eyes. “So what?” she asked. Her voice was much sharper than she thought it would be. “You have some kind of honor code and want to be nice before finding fuck buddies?”

“No, I want to date you,” Rickon said. He reached for her hands, but she pulled away.

“People don’t date me, Rickon,” she said. “It doesn’t happen.”

“Let me prove you wrong.”

“That’s not going to make this better,” she said. She looked to the ceiling helplessly. “I’m… I can’t. I don’t even have a place to live.”

The tears started to fall, and she didn’t even try to hold them back. Everything felt wrong, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that this was just a dream. Between her sobs, she heard Rickon get up and start walking around his apartment. So that was it. He was done with her now, for sure. She couldn’t even pretend to keep holding herself together with this happening. She heard a small _thump_ next to her and looked over to see a pile of blankets on the couch.

“You can have my room,” Rickon announced. “I don’t care how long you stay. It’s yours now. We can figure the rest of this stuff out later. Don’t worry about it.”

“I couldn’t possibly…” Shireen tried to wipe the tears from her eyes.

“Take it,” Rickon said. He walked back around the couch and sat down. “Figure your life out. I can go stay with my brother if you want me to. But you need help, and I’m not going to bail on you.”

Another wave of tears hit Shireen, and she slumped down on the couch. Holding her face in her hands, she felt her entire body shaking with sobs. She recognized the feeling of a hand on her shoulder and involuntarily moved away. Rickon entirely ignored her, gently moving her onto his lap. He held her tight in his arms and stroked her hair until her sobs started to subside. Shireen didn’t move from his arms. She was exhausted, and she could feel the weight of the world holding her down. How did these things keep happening? When was she finally going to feel normal?

She just rested in Rickon’s arms, letting the comfort seep into her. He didn’t need to be dealing with this. There was no way that this was his problem. She was just about to wake herself up to leave, when Rickon stood up, cradling her in his arms. He carried her into his room, placing her down on the bed. Shireen looked at him through half-lidded eyes, feeling the crushing weight of her exhaustion holding her down. She feebly tried to protest, but Rickon shushed her. He tucked the sheets in around her and pressed a kiss to her forehead before leaving the room.

Shireen fell into a deep sleep, resting better than she had in a long while. It wasn’t until the early morning that she woke fitfully, feeling as if something was trying to attack her. Sitting up quickly, Shireen looked around the room. The muted light didn’t do much for the dark colors, and she was ill at ease. Getting up slowly, she left the room and wrapped her arms tightly around herself. In the living room, she found Rickon lying on the couch. He looked extremely peaceful in his sleep, spread out on the couch that he didn’t seem to fit on. Still, Shireen gravitated toward him, sitting down on the edge of the couch. She slowly reached out for his face and ran his fingers across his jaw. Almost in response, Rickon moved an arm over her hips, pulling her down next to him and turning into her.

Shireen slowly moved down, curling up on her side in the small space available. For a short while, Rickon pulled the blanket out from under her before wrapping her up in it. Then, Rickon’s arms locked around her middle, and she could feel his breaths against her hair. He let out a heavy sigh, squeezing her tight against his chest. That single action sent a wave of calm through Shireen, and she fell back into a deep sleep with no thoughts to interrupt her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In other news, I have no idea where this is going. Any and all suggestions welcome.


	3. Chapter 3

Even though Rickon was fully aware that he needed to wake up soon, he really didn’t want to. There was a gentle lull coming from somewhere that pulled him deeper and deeper into sleep every time he thought he could get up. Gradually, he started to wake, and he was surprised to find Shireen in his arms. He was positive that she hadn’t been there when he fell asleep that night, but there was something about the way she was breathing that made him sleepier.

After an hour of putting off getting up, Rickon finally extracted himself from the couch. Shireen was pressed tight against him, and he didn’t want to wake her. She definitely needed a day to sleep through. Carefully, Rickon climbed over her. Then, he tucked her back into the blanket and pressed a kiss to her forehead. As quietly as he could, Rickon searched for her keys. Thankfully, she had dumped them on the table near the door.

It took a total of six trips up and down stairs, but Rickon managed to move most of her stuff from her car into his apartment. He left a majority of on the table in the kitchen, hoping that she’d find it easily. He put her keys back before checking the time.

He was late. He should have been at work a few minutes ago, and he was likely to take a while to get there. Rickon wanted to make sure that Shireen was safe before he left. He couldn’t just leave her. Running back to his room, Rickon quickly changed into clean clothes. He spent the time to pry his apartment key off the key ring and wrote a short note to Shireen. Placing both on the coffee table, Rickon kissed her once more before intentionally locking himself out of his apartment.

Rickon raced to work, happy to be able to weave through traffic on his motorcycle. The rush of air pressing against his body was all he had to wake himself. The sun was already up, and he could feel the pressure of the day weighing against him. 

He was going to get a verbal lashing at work for being late, even if it was his first time doing so. He decided that it would be worth it, so he ignored it until he was seated at his desk, back to another day of boring number-crunching. It wasn’t the most fun or exciting work, but it paid the bills. Rickon didn’t have time to waste on finding a job he liked when he could do the work here.

It wasn’t until lunchtime that Rickon realized he couldn’t go home for food. He didn’t have his key, and Shireen hadn’t called or texted all day. Maybe she was trying to let him off easy. He knew he couldn’t change any decision that she made, but he desperately wanted to help her get on her feet again, even if she just ran away after. That would be worth it, if only to see her smile with joy.

Rickon settled down at a fast food restaurant near his work. He could just relax here for his lunch break. He watched groups of people wander past him, everyone caught in their own bubble of problems and life. Today, Rickon thought that all of them had someone to go home to. Suddenly, he felt that that was exactly what people sought out in life: something to go home to. He pulled his phone from his pocket and texted Shireen.

_Dinner tonight?_

It was only a few minutes before her reply came through. A simple _”Okay.”_ Rickon breathed out a sigh of relief, before looking up places they could go. He might know what troubled her, but he had no idea what kind of food she’d like. Before he could tear himself up over the dilemma, he called his sister.

“Rickon?” she answered.

“Hey, Sansa,” he said. “I, um, need your help with something.”

“Again?” Sansa asked. “I thought you learned your lesson.”

Rickon felt his face flushing. “Not that,” he said a bit more sharply than he intended. “I need a place to take someone on a first date.”

“You know, I’m glad to see you actually trying to date people now,” Sansa said. “Maybe you have learned your lesson.”

“Would you just help me out?” Rickon asked. “My lunch break is almost over.”

Sansa apologized before listing out a few places he could take someone. She tried to pry and ask who he was going out with, but he managed to deflect all the questions. Sansa settled for a simple “I want to meet her” before hanging up. As he was heading back into the offices, Rickon called in to make a reservation for tonight. He was positive that no one would be going out on a Monday, but he wanted to make sure that things would be fine.

He was extremely excited to be heading home that evening. He didn’t even care about getting dinner anymore, he just wanted to see Shireen again. He could feel the nerves bunching up in his stomach at the mere thought of it, and his heart was pounding when he finally knocked on the door. There was a while when Rickon wasn’t sure if Shireen would open the door for him, but then her bright blue eyes appeared at a crack in the door. The door swung completely open.

Rickon stepped inside, throwing his things down. “I just need to shower before we go,” he said quickly. He almost pressed forward to get ready when he saw Shireen idling in the kitchen, all her things still in bags. “What’s wrong?”

Shireen took a moment to look up at him. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” she mumbled out.

“Dating you?” Rickon asked. “It’s probably the best idea I ever had.”

“And me staying here?” Shireen asked.

Rickon stepped forward and took her hands in his. “Hey, I’ll go stay with someone else if you want,” he said. “My brother will let me. It’s fine.”

“I’m just—I wasn’t lying,” she said softly. “I’m really messed up.”

“No, you’re not,” Rickon said, squeezing her hands. “You’re just going through some shit, but it’ll get better.” He released his grip slowly, feeling her fingers slide across his palms before he went off to his room.

“You’re sure you want to deal with me?” Shireen asked, following him.

Rickon glanced over to her. Shireen was only just leaning into the room, a hand on the doorknob and her hair swept over her shoulders. He gave her a smile. “It’s not dealing with you,” he said. “I want to date you.”

Shireen lapsed into silence, and Rickon took the time to shower. He made it quick, not even bothering to let the water heat up entirely. After a simple scrub of his whole body, he dried off quickly and went to dig out nicer clothes. He entered the living room as he was buttoning up his shirt. When he looked up, he noticed that Shireen had changed, too. She was wearing a nice purple dress that only just covered her knees. Rickon froze mid-step, caught up in looking at her. She cocked her head to the side.

“Um… I take it you don’t want to go on my motorcycle?” he asked.

Her face went red. “I’m actually a little scared of them,” she admitted.

Rickon laughed, and tossed his keys onto the table. “That’s cool,” he said. “Your car? I can still drive.”

“Well, you did clean it out,” Shireen said, standing and going to the door. She shuffled about with the keys, handing him the ones to her car and holding onto one that had a green string tied to it. When she caught Rickon staring, she said, “Your apartment key. I figured that you wouldn’t have a spare lying around.”

“I’ll retrieve one from my brother for you,” Rickon promised, leading her down the stairs after locking up. “He doesn’t come over enough to have one anyway.”

The drive to the restaurant was quiet, and Rickon assumed that she was just uncomfortable with him driving her car. He managed it fine and drove slower than usual, but he was used to people treating him with that kind of trepidation. Even though they sat in silence, Shireen seemed entirely calm about it. She didn’t fidget or try to fill the silence. They just enjoyed the sound of tires moving over asphalt, watching the streetlights flick past.

When they were finally seated at the restaurant, Shireen gave Rickon a hard look. “So this is our actual first date?” she asked. The low lights of the restaurant were glinting off her eyes, and it was doing things to Rickon’s stomach that had nothing to do with being hungry.

“Yup,” he said. “Unless you don’t want it to be.”

Shireen shrugged, reaching for her glass of water. “No, it’s fine,” she said. “I just haven’t been on a date in a while.”

“How long is a while?” Rickon asked, also taking a drink. He feigned interest in his menu in case she didn’t want to answer.

There was a long pause. “About four years,” she said.

Rickon looked back up at her. She was staring at him, trying to see his reaction to her answer. He waved it off and continued reading the menu. “That’s not too bad,” he said.

He heard Shireen let out a small laugh. His stomach seemed to be twisting itself in knots. “And yourself?” she asked.

Rickon let out a loud huff of air, looking around the restaurant as if it would help him remember. “Technically, it was eight months ago,” he said. “I lost a bet and had to take one of my friends out.”

“Which one?” Shireen asked. She leaned forward onto her hand, looking directly at him. There was a mischievous smile on her face.

Biting his tongue, Rickon realized that she would have point of reference for this. “Lyanna,” he said. He quickly rushed through the details before she could ask. “And the date was a complete waste. She didn’t say anything the entire time. We just ate, and then I dropped her back off at home.”

“Poor girl,” Shireen said, a grin on her face. 

Rickon set his jaw and narrowed his eyes at Shireen. He didn’t see how she could have sympathy for someone she had only met in passing. Still, she seemed to be laughing at him. “Why’s that?”

“She just really likes you is all,” Shireen said, leaning back and looking back at her menu. He opened his mouth to protest, but a waiter came by. They both ordered after some friendly banter with the waiter, and Shireen looked at him expectantly once the waiter was gone.

Rickon rolled his eyes, leaning onto the table. “What makes you think that she likes me?”

“You made her too nervous to say anything,” Shireen said as if they proved it. When Rickon didn’t respond, she went on. “Oh, come on. If you guys were friends, then you could have talked about _something_. She probably tried to tell you the whole night.”

“It didn’t really seem like it,” Rickon said, draining his water. He needed the cool liquid in his system. Shireen was doing too good a job of making him feel embarrassed for having ever agreed to take a friend out. He hadn’t even considered the thought that any of them would like him.

Shireen shook her head at him. “Maybe you should ask her out again,” she suggested.

Rickon shot a quick look back to Shireen. She was curled in on herself just slightly. Her head was bowed, and she was playing with her silverware. Rickon reached across the table to grab onto her hand. “I’ve been telling you that I want to date you,” Rickon said. “ _You_ , Shireen. I don’t want to date whoever. I want to date _you_.”

“Or you just think you do,” Shireen said, looking away. “Have you even considered anyone else?”

“Not until I considered you,” Rickon said, meaning every word of it. He watched her cross her arms, defiant about this matter. For some reason, she didn’t believe him. Rickon needed to find a way to make her believe how sincere he was. Instead, he got lost watching the flickering light of a candle dance across her scars. It was mesmerizing, and he couldn’t look away. Their food arrived, and Rickon remembered how hungry he was when the scent of meat hit his nose. He paused in his staring to start eating.

Shireen stayed quiet. She was watching him with sly glances. Rickon saw her eyelashes move just slightly every time she looked his way. Taking tiny bites, Shireen continued to watch him.

Rickon cut off a good-sized piece of his steak and offered it to her. “Want a bite?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said, cleaning her fork to take the piece. However, Rickon just leaned across the table so she could take the bite off his fork. Shireen seemed slightly startled, but she accepted the bite, steadying the fork by placing her hand over his. Rickon almost dropped the fork. Shireen giggled through her chewing, covering her mouth. “You okay there?”

Nodding quickly, Rickon shoved more food in his mouth. He was very easily distracted with her around. She was just so lovely to look at, and even though she seemed shy, Rickon knew that a bold Shireen was likely to emerge. He looked forward to seeing that process.

“So, you know I’m messed up and you still want to date me?”

Rickon was pulled from his thoughts. He almost responded when he remembered that he hadn’t swallowed yet. Quickly, he finished the bite. “You’re not messed up,” he insisted. “Everyone has shit to go through. I went through mine a long time ago, and you’re going through yours now. It happens. That’s life. Don’t worry about it.”

“Then, tell me _why_ you want to date me,” Shireen demanded. She put her utensils down to look at him straight on.

Mimicking her movements, Rickon cleared his hands and leaned in closer. He remembered their first meeting all too well. Even though he had been a bit tipsy, he could recall most of what happened at the bar. He found a smirk on his face that he couldn’t wipe off. Shireen raised her eyebrows at him. Rickon cleared his throat and said, “Easy: you threw the first punch.”

Shireen blinked at him. “What?”

“At the bar,” Rickon said. “When that guy blew you off for whatever reason. He said something, you punched him, and then I heard his insult you before trying to slap you…. Which seems backwards now that I think of it… But I went over to stop him. He kept trying to insult you, and we got into a fight. Then, you tried to clean me up in a bathroom… And then we started making out.”

Shireen’s face flushed a deep red. “You remember that?” she asked. “What about after?”

“I, um, think I was a bit distracted,” he said sheepishly, looking away. “Or I was drunk off your kisses… Which is why I was trying to kiss you again.”

“You still want to?” Shireen asked.

Rickon bit his tongue hard. He had been staring at her lips and thinking about what her kiss would be like all day, what it would be like to go home to her and wrap her in his arms and kiss her full on the mouth. “I just need to do it properly,” he said slowly.

“What does that mean?” Shireen asked. “Can we do it here?”

Rickon stifled a laugh. “No, it’s… I’ll, um, I’ll show you when we get home.”

Shireen narrowed her eyes at him. “Then, let’s go.”

His heart skipped a beat. Rickon could feel his breath shortening, but he hailed the waiter back and paid for their meal. Shireen had a new look in her eyes, and she was licking her lips occasionally. It was sending waves of heat through his body, and he was starting to lose focus. They walked out to her car, and she stole the keys from his hand. Rickon could feel his skin burning where she touched him.

“I don’t think you can drive right now,” Shireen announced. “Besides, you probably have to choreograph your perfect kisses or something.”

Falling back to his senses, Rickon went in on the passenger’s side. He wasn’t used to getting lost in his thoughts so easily, and Shireen’s teasing was making his stomach flip again. She started driving home, giggling at him. Rickon’s mouth was dry, and he tried to swallow. “You keep poking fun,” he said. “But do you remember our kisses?”

He could see her face flush in the low light. “I can remember the ones from, um, the morning after…”

“How well do you remember?” Rickon asked, leaning over the center armrest. He let a hand drop onto her leg and lightly move up, dragging her dress with it.

She swallowed, glancing down at his hand before looking back to the road. Rickon grinned, continuing to drag his fingers around until she grabbed onto his hand, choosing to drive one-handed instead. Rickon laced their fingers together, swirling his thumb over her knuckle. Shireen slowly pulled into his parking space, and Rickon was tempted to kiss her right then. He could have easily pulled her on his lap, but Shireen was already heading out of the car. Taking a deep breath, he followed her.

Shireen easily went up to his apartment, seeming to have memorized its location already. He grinned, watching her switch keys to open it up. Steeling himself, Rickon grabbed her wrist and spun her around. He pressed up close to her, holding onto her waist and releasing her wrist. He let his free hand travel up to her scars, cupping them gently before inclining his head to make their lips meet.

Just before they made contact, Rickon felt her breathe out a sigh. Then, he completed the task, giving her a gentle kiss, his lips the smallest movement against hers until she responded. At her movement, he pulled her closer, releasing her waist to hold her face and deepen the kiss. Shireen grabbed at his sides, gripping into the fabric of his shirt, and he could feel her nails scraping at his skin. He let the open-mouthed kiss drag on until her arms were around his neck, pulling him even closer. Then, he found her waist again; making sure her body was flush against his before easing his tongue into her mouth.

Shireen let out a low moan before finding his tongue with hers. Rickon smiled against her mouth, picking her up with a tight hug and pinning her to the wall. She let out a small gasp when he broke the kiss for the smallest moment before pouring all his affection into the kiss again. Her eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks, and he hummed into her mouth, kissing her with all the hunger and possessiveness he felt for her over the past few weeks. When she moaned again, Rickon slowed the kiss down, easing her onto the floor. Her hands stayed around his neck and she wobbled slightly on her feet.

Looking up at him through her eyelashes, Shireen’s face was fully-flushed and she was breathing heavily when she let out a small, “Oh.”

Rickon laughed lightly, kissing her briefly. He took the key out of her hand and unlocked the door. “I told you it’d be worth it,” he said, smirking at her. Shireen still looked lost, completely disoriented by the kiss. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall. Rickon noticed that he had tangled parts of her hair and he combed through it with his fingers. Shireen leaned into his touch, still using him to balance. Rickon leaned down as if to kiss her again, but he stopped himself just before their lips made contact. “Do you want to finish this inside?”

Shireen seemed to suddenly take a hold of herself. She stood up straight, looked him directly in the eyes, and licked her lips slowly. Then, she gave him a smile. “I think we’d be crazy to stop here,” she whispered. Grabbing onto his wrist, Shireen pulled him inside, dragging him straight to the bedroom. Rickon barely had time to lock the door behind them before her mouth was on his again.


	4. Chapter 4

During the next two weeks, Rickon focused entirely on making his apartment better for Shireen to live in. She put up some decorations, claiming that they needed more color in his apartment, and he let her, wanting to see what she’d do with it. He also invested in more storage for her clothes. Together, they re-arranged the bedroom to fit everything in it, and soon the apartment looked fit for two. Shireen definitely seemed to be happier with their arrangement as time went by, and Rickon was delighted to have her even closer.

Rickon found himself missing her whenever they were at work, and he rushed home every day, if only to kiss her again. They shared the responsibilities about the house, cooking and cleaning around each other. Domestic life had never seemed particularly intriguing to Rickon, but he took well to it with Shireen.

“Are you always home so much?” Shireen asked, finishing her dinner that day. Rickon had cooked pasta for them today, spending most of his time on making garlic bread.

He shrugged. “I guess?” he replied. “I never really kept track of it. Usually, I’d be playing video games, sometimes hang out with friends… they haven’t asked me anywhere, though, and you’re much more interesting than video games.”

Shireen’s face turned red. She huffed and crossed her arms. “All we do is kiss,” she said slowly.

“I know,” Rickon said. “I was there for that, and I do enjoy it quite a bit.”

Shireen stared down at her plate, meticulously cleaning up the extra pasta sauce with her bread. Finishing his own meal, Rickon leaned back in his chair, watching her lick her fingers clean. Shireen caught him staring and stuck her tongue out at him. Rickon smiled at her, and she took their dishes to the sink.

Rickon still couldn’t believe how often he got caught up looking at her. Shireen was tall, but he still towered over her. She was petite and fairly slim, almost always in loose dresses and skirts. Right now, she was barefoot, rocking side to side. Standing up, Rickon walked so he was right behind her, pressing his chest against her back. He felt Shireen turn to look at him, and he lowered his head to her shoulder, pressing his lips to her neck. Shireen’s body shook with a laugh, as she finished the dishes and turned the water off. Taking a hold of her hips, Rickon pressed entirely against her.

“Rickon?” Shireen asked.

He could feel her trying to turn around. Rickon slid his hands up her sides, letting them meet over her stomach.

“What are you doing?” Shireen asked, leaning her head against his.

“I want to kiss you,” Rickon mumbled into her neck.

Shireen laughed, reaching up to run a hand through his hair. “I think you’re doing it wrong.”

Rickon slumped down even further, reaching for her legs. Shireen yelped slightly when he lifted her into his arms. Then, he carried her to the couch, sitting down with her in his lap. Twisting, Shireen leaned against his chest, her hair covering most of them. Moving his hands slowly, Rickon let one travel up her thigh, and his other went into her hair. Shireen blinked up at him.

“You still haven’t kissed me,” she said.

Rickon stared into her bright blue eyes, watching her eyelashes flutter. He combed his fingers through her hair slowly, reaching the end of it near her hips. Spreading his other hand out, Rickon gripped his fingers into her hip before holding onto her neck and inclining his head toward hers. Shireen let out a low whimper, reaching up quickly to slide her hand into his hair and press their lips together. Laughing against her mouth, Rickon deepened the kiss, leaning her down slightly. Shireen wrapped her arms about his neck, pulling him down with her. He could feel her foot pressing into his hip, so he moved down with her, pinning her to the couch.

“Remember when you asked me to fuck you?” he mumbled against her mouth. Shireen’s face flushed, but she nodded. Rickon smiled against her mouth, kissing her quickly. “I think I’d like to try that out if you’re interested.”

Her fingers were still twirling in his hair, tracing patterns against his scalp. She hummed and stared him directly in the eyes. “I think I’d like to finish properly moving out first.”

“Of here?” Rickon asked, pressing kisses down her throat.

“Not here,” Shireen said, groaning when his tongue pressed into the hollow of his throat. “From my dad’s place, and, like— _where are your hands going?_ ”

“Nowhere,” Rickon said quickly, sliding his hands out from under her dress. He had made it to her waist before she commented on it. Sitting up, Rickon placed her over his thighs, her knees on either side of his hips. “You were saying?”

Shireen twisted her mouth at him before pecking him on the lips. “I want to be done with my family,” she said. Quickly, she tacked on, “for now. I mean, I think I need this.”

“Where do they think you are right now?” Rickon asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Sometimes, I go to stay with my cousin for a while,” Shireen said, shrugging. “They might not think much of it.”

“So you want to move in with me?” Rickon asked, letting his hands roam the span of her back. “And then… we can make use of my bed?”

Shireen rolled her eyes at him. “I use your bed every night.”

“Lies,” Rickon said. “You’re usually here in the mornings.”

Pressing a kiss to his temple, Shireen leaned into his neck, hugging him. She started humming as she traced her fingers over his neck. Rickon turned into her hair and pressed a kiss to her hair. “I’m not complaining,” he said. “I like having you here.”

“I like being here,” Shireen mumbled.

Rickon could feel her body slowly becoming dead weight. He shook her shoulder slightly. “Tomorrow, then?” he asked. “I’ll help you move out from your dad’s, and we can go on another date.”

Shireen blinked at him, rubbing a knuckle into her eye. “Okay.”

Rickon pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “I think it’s time for you to go to bed,” he said. Carefully, he stood up, carrying her in her arms. “Long day at work?”

Shireen nodded into his shoulder. “I like the books, though.”

Laughing, Rickon carried her into the bedroom. He knew all about her job at the local bookstore. She hated almost everything about it except for being surrounded by books. Still, she worked hard, and he had to commend her for being on her feet all day. Placing her onto the bed, Rickon shook her awake again. “Get ready for bed,” he said gently. “We’ll worry about tomorrow later. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Shireen stretched up to kiss him, mumbling out a goodnight. Rickon combed her hair out once more, before pulling out his pajamas and quickly changing for bed. Falling onto the couch, Rickon listened to Shireen slowly getting ready for bed. It took her just slightly longer than normal before the apartment quieted down. Then, Rickon pulled the blankets over himself and drifted off.

\--

Just as he predicted, Shireen was in his arms when he woke up. Today, she was facing toward him, breathing out small huffs into his neck. Rickon looked down at her, watching her chest rise and fall with every breath. He hugged her tight, ready to fall back asleep, when someone knocked on the door. Shireen squirmed slightly, folding her arms between them and digging her nose into his shoulder. Rickon waited until the knock sounded again, before breathing out a sigh and climbing out around Shireen. She mumbled when he left, so he tucked her back in and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Walking over to the door, Rickon stretched out before opening the door. He was only a little surprised to see his eldest brother. Rubbing at his eyes, he said, “What’s up, Robb? You here for breakfast?”

Robb’s stern expression instantly became bright. “Are you making it?”

Rickon shrugged, turning back into his apartment. “I can be.”

“Excellent!” Robb said, following Rickon inside.

“Quiet, bro,” Rickon said sharply. Robb raised his eyebrows questioningly at Rickon and he added on, “I just woke up.”

Rickon gestured to one of the seats in the kitchen, and Robb took it, not bothering to wander around. He set about to making some pancakes and frying bacon. Robb just lounged around in the chair, obviously stalling to secure his breakfast. “So what’s up?” Rickon asked, sitting down across from Robb and handing him a plate.

Robb licked his lips and rubbed his hands together. He picked up a fork and excitedly cut into the pancake. “There’s just something wonderful about food you didn’t cook yourself,” he said, pouring some syrup onto his pancakes and stuffing a bite into his mouth.

Rickon rolled his eyes, cutting into his own plate. “Yeah, but why are you here?” he asked. “You could have called.”

“I did,” Robb said, only just covering his mouth. “So did Bran, Arya, and Sansa… they were getting worried, so I offered to come over. Where’d you lose your phone?”

“I haven’t,” Rickon said. “I must have left it in my room…”

Robb gave him a confused look. “Weren’t you just in your room?”

“No, I slept on the couch,” Rickon said, wondering if Robb would inquire further.

“Video games?” Robb asked. Without bothering for clarification, he looked back down at his food and said, “Understandable.”

Rickon ignored the comment and set about to finishing his breakfast. Robb also finished up, but he kept eyeing the plate of leftover bacon. “Fuck off, Robb,” Rickon said. “You still haven’t even told me why you’re here.”

“Right,” Robb said, sitting up. “Dad wants you over for family dinner tonight.”

“Okay,” Rickon said. “And you had to come here to ask because…?”

Robb shrugged. “Mom started to get worried, and Sansa apparently thinks you can’t manage yourself very well.”

“Well, I’ve got shit to do today,” Rickon said. “So if I finish up early, I’ll head over.”

Robb just stared at him. “Since when are you busy on a Saturday?” he asked. “”I thought you got an office job so you could get weekends off. What is it? You got a date?”

“Oh, right,” Rickon said, remembering last night. “I do have a date. Thanks for reminding me. Can’t make it.” He stood up and began walking over to the couch, checking on Shireen. She was still sleeping on the couch, although a bit fitfully.

“Come on, man,” Robb said, standing up. “We haven’t all been together in a while. We could play some games, climb onto the roof…”

“You want me to ditch my date?” Rickon asked, looking away from Shireen, who only just settled.

“Invite her?” Robb suggested, a fake smile on his face.

Rickon rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll ask.” Then, he leaned down, shaking Shireen’s shoulder gently. Robb looked confused until Shireen started sitting up. “Hey, you want breakfast?”

Shireen nodded slowly, yawning. Her hair was a tangled mess, and he could tell that she was wearing one of his shirts again. Then, she leaned over the back of the couch, looking up at him. “Did you make bacon again?” she mumbled, blinking slowly.

“Yeah,” he said, glancing to Robb, who looked like extremely confused. “My brother decided to stop by for a visit.”

Without looking bothered at all, Shireen turned to wave at Robb. Then, she stretched and got up from the couch, following Rickon into the kitchen as he started making more pancakes. Shireen snagged a piece of bacon and started chewing on it. Rickon heard Robb mumble something that sounded like “so not video games” and sit down again. Shireen poured herself a glass of orange juice, asking Robb if he wanted any. Robb just nodded. Rickon finished up the pancakes and served Shireen, sitting down on the other chair. Shireen looked ready to eat standing, so Rickon pulled her into his lap. 

Rickon’s arms circled her waist, and she turned to press a kiss to his hair before beginning to eat. Robb watched them with an amused expression. Rickon thought Robb was waiting for him to introduce her, so Rickon decided not to. Shireen deserved to know his name, though. “Robb wants us to go over to my parents’ house for dinner,” Rickon said, resting his chin on her shoulder. “Do you wanna go?”

Shireen slowly chewed through a mouthful, giving Robb a contemplative look. Robb tried to smile back at her, but he didn’t quite manage it. Turning to Rickon, Shireen said, “We have a date tonight.”

“Yeah, I know,” Rickon replied. “That’s why I’m asking. It’s your call.”

Nodding, Shireen finished up her food, saving a piece of bacon to eat last. Munching on it, she curled further into Rickon’s lap, and he noticed that she was wearing pajama shorts under the shirt. Shireen offered Rickon a bite, which he took, before she finished eating. Rickon ignored the looks Robb was giving him. Finally, Shireen said, “I guess we can skip our date… You can decide.”

Rickon opened up his arms further as Shireen cuddled into his chest, resting her head on his shoulder. She still seemed really sleepy, almost ready to drift off. Easing her into a comfortable position, Rickon leveled a look at Robb. “We still have other shit to do today,” he said. “So if we get done, we’ll go over. Or I’ll go over. We’ll see.”

“Great!” Robb said, standing abruptly. He put his hands on his hips and looked around the apartment. “I’ll tell mom to make an extra plate, just in case. Anyway, I got some things to do, too, so I’ll see you later.”

Robb hurried out of the apartment in a rush, not even bothering to let Rickon show him out. Shireen was still settled in his lap, drawing patterns over his chest. “Is he married?” Shireen asked. She was still staring at his chest.

“No,” Rickon said, looking down at her.

Shireen looked up, her bright blue eyes taking him by surprised. “Then, he’s engaged.”

Rickon frowned. “Not that I know of.”

“Oh,” Shireen said, looking back down. “I think that’s the news then.”

“But he said that my dad wanted me over.”

Shireen looked back up at him with a slightly more determined expression. “Did your dad ask you over?”

“I guess not…” Rickon started glancing around. He honestly didn’t know. He hadn’t bothered to locate his phone.

“It’s his dinner, then,” Shireen said. “Your brother is probably getting married.”

Robb had never seemed like a serious relationship kind of person to Rickon, but Rickon hadn’t expected it out of himself either until Shireen came around. Rickon leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Do you want to nap again before we go out for today?”

Shireen nodded. Carefully, Rickon stood up and walked them into his bedroom.

\--

“So you’re positive that nobody’s home?” Rickon asked. They had been in her father’s house for about fifteen minutes, and he still felt like he was going to get in trouble for being here.

Shireen had absolutely no qualms about it, simply walking about the house and gathering some of her belongings in her arms. “Stop panicking,” she said. “There are no cars outside, and we’ve been making noise for quite some time.”

“If you say so,” Rickon replied, looking at some pictures that must have been Shireen as a child. Her hair was cut short, and she was grinning at the camera. He was a little surprised to find that she was the only person in any of the pictures displayed. Her bright blue eyes were almost always looking back at him in every picture, though there were a few with her eyes closing, laughing. Rickon smiled to himself, looking over the pictures.

“You gonnna stay out here the whole time, buddy?” Shireen asked, poking her head out the hallway at him.

Rickon just pointed to the pictures in reply. “You were quite adorable,” he said.

“And now I’m not!” Shireen chimed, rushing through the house.

Following her quickly, Rickon caught her about the waist. She turned to face him, pouting slightly. Rickon pecked a kiss onto her nose. Giggling, Shireen squirmed out of his grasp. Then, she slipped into a nearby room. Filled with curiosity, Rickon followed. He was immediately relieved to find out that her room wasn’t ridiculously pink, as Sansa’s had been. Instead, there was a lot of purple. He supposed it was at least a bit better on the eyes. Still, there was an aura of childhood girl-ness about it. There were books everywhere, with a mass of toys and stuffed animals. Shireen was digging out something from her desk, and stuffing it into a box.

Leaving Shireen to wander her room, Rickon reclined on her bed. He picked up one of her stuffed animals: a small black dog. Absentmindedly, he moved the dog over her bed, making it jump over small obstacles. After a while, Shireen cleared her throat loudly. “Having fun?”

“Oh, loads,” Rickon said, putting the dog down and sitting up. “How about you?”

“Well, I’m finished,” she said, standing up and looking down at the box. It wasn’t terribly stuffed, but Rickon thought that it probably covered the things she didn’t know she was missing when she lived out of her car. Shireen looked back to him. “Do you want to keep the dog?”

“I wanted a _real_ dog,” Rickon said.

“So that’s a yes?” Shireen asked, smirking at him.

Rickon tossed the stuffed animal at her, making a fake barking sound. Shireen laughed, adding it to her box. Then, Rickon stood up quickly, walking into Shireen and pressing her into a wall. Shireen smiled, looking up at him. Rickon ran his fingers up her arms, hitting the straps of her dress. She had dressed nicely for his family’s dinner tonight, and he was terribly tempted to figure out what was under her dress. Leaning down, Rickon kissed her roughly, grabbing onto her waist and pulling her flush against his chest. Shireen let out a moan, moving her hands to his shoulders. She pressed her tongue into his mouth, and he felt her hands running through his hair. Deepening the kiss, Rickon let his hand slide just under her skirt to lift her up. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Shireen started nipping at his lips when he heard a door slam.

“Shit,” he hissed out, quickly separating from her. Shireen looked ready to fall into a fit of laughter, and he fixed her with a hard look. “Don’t you dare.”

Shireen crossed her arms at him, not bothering to fix her dress. “What? You expect us to sneak out?” she asked. “My car’s outside.”

Rickon swore at himself. He didn’t know why he was expecting to get out of here without seeing her father, but he did not feel prepared to deal with this. Quickly, he reached out to fix her dress for her. Shireen rolled her eyes but stayed still to let him finish the job.

“Shireen!” someone called. The voice was far shriller than he had been expecting. It belonged to a woman.

“Ready?” Shireen asked, reaching out for his hand. Rickon gripped hers quickly before sighing and nodding. He turned to grab the box for her. Then, Shireen took a deep breath and went back out to the living room.

Rickon felt a massive bundle of nerves building in his chest, despite not being the one to personally deal with this. The memory of his difficult move-out hit him, though, and he hoped that it would go better for Shireen. Swallowing hard, he watched Shireen fidget a bit before steeling herself to enter the living room. He followed right behind her.

Inside, there were two people. One was a tall man, who had the same black hair as Shireen. He was turned toward a window, not looking in their direction. The other was a woman with obviously dyed red hair, as vibrant as it was. Rickon felt the urge to run his hands through his own hair, knowing that it had a reddish tint, though not nearly as much as his sister’s. This was fake, though, and Rickon thanked the box in his hands from dampening the urge.

“Oh, Shireen,” the woman said, still not turning to look at her. She was tugging on the man’s hand. “We wanted to talk to you about—”

“Don’t bother,” Shireen interrupted. Haltingly, the man and woman turned to face her. Shireen took a miniscule step backwards before straightening her shoulders. Then, she pulled the house key from her pocket and tossed it to them. “I’m moving out.”

“Where?” her father asked sharply. He eyed Rickon and added, “With who?”

Rickon felt like he was someone used to being obeyed, regardless of absurd rules. Setting his jaw, Rickon met the man’s look.

“Doesn’t matter,” Shireen said. “I’ve figured it out, and I’m going.”

Her father broke the staring match against Rickon to look at his daughter. “And you’ll provide me a spare key?”

“Nope,” Shireen said. “I’m perfectly capable of managing by myself.”

Her father’s eyes narrowed. “I can assure you that I can—”

“Can _what_ , Dad?” Shireen asked. “Ever since _she_ came into your life, you’ve had nothing to do with me. _I_ paid my own way through college. _I_ took out my own loans for grad school. So don’t bother to tell me you’re going to help out now.”

“Shireen, we’ve always…” the woman started.

Shireen silenced her with a look. Rickon wanted to grin at her. Shireen crossed her arms. “You never spared me a second glance,” she said. “I’m done.”

“Your address?” her father asked. “And… roommate?”

Throwing her hands up, Shireen rounded on her father. “You’re not getting it!” she shouted. “I’m done. With all of this—whatever this is. I hate it. I’m over it. And whatever I decide to do _now_ is my decision. If I’m staying by myself, with a friend, with Mom, with my boyfriend… it is none of your business anymore. So when you decide that I matter again, _maybe_ I’ll consider talking to you about it. You have your key back. And I’m done.”

She turned swiftly on her heel, heading over to the front door as quickly as possible. It took Rickon a moment to catch up to her, being caught by the shocked looks of her father and that woman. Shireen was already starting the car when Rickon shoved the box in. He barely made it into his seat and put his seatbelt on, when Shireen drove off.

Her knuckles were white over the steering wheel, and he could almost see the tension that was in her arms. She was mumbling something to herself, and Rickon felt a little unnerved, if not immeasurably proud of her. Shireen, however, looked furious and a little unfit for driving. Slowly, Rickon reached for the steering wheel, pulling her over to the side of the road. He felt the car slow to a stop, and he put the car in park. Shireen huffed out a huge breath of air. Then, she turned to Rickon.

“You good?” he asked gently.

Shireen sighed loudly, tossing her head back. Slowly, she nodded. “I am,” she said. “I needed that. Thank you for being there.”

Rickon took one of her hands, squeezing it. “I didn’t do anything,” he said. “That was all you.”

Shireen’s hands went to her eyes, wiping at them. When she turned back to him, he realized that her eyes were wet, making the blue of them swim. She shook her head. “Not that,” she said. “For… being you. And taking care of me.”

Reaching over, Rickon unclasped his seatbelt, and then hers. Then, he lifted her over the armrest and into his lap. Shireen melted into his chest, leaning against him fully. Rickon kissed her forehead before she looked up. Then, he pressed a light kiss to her lips. Shireen smiled at him. His heart started beating faster, holding her here, knowing that he could comfort her. He looked down at her.

“So do you want to be my girlfriend?” he asked softly, feeling extremely nervous about using the term despite living with her for two weeks.

Shireen’s smile turned into a grin before she sat up to look at him fully. “I would be _honored_ to be your girlfriend,” she said, kissing the tip of his nose.

Rickon hugged her tight. Then, he pressed kisses all over her face, making sure to target her scars more often than not. Her cheeks were flushed a bright red when he finally pulled away. He kissed her once more on the mouth.

“You weren’t supposed to…” she mumbled.

“I’m not supposed to kiss you?” Rickon asked, leaning forward to kiss her cheek again.

Shireen squirmed. “But it’s gross,” she said, pouting at him. “And they’re all disgusting and stuff.”

“Excuse you,” Rickon said. He narrowed his eyes at her and poked her side. “But that is my girlfriend you are insulting, and I am not okay with that.”

“Fine,” Shireen said. “But you realize that now you have to introduce me to your family as your girlfriend, right?”

“And what was I gonna say before?” Rickon asked. “This is just some girl that I almost had a one night stand with, and she’s been living with me for the past two weeks.”

Shireen laughed. “Yeah, that sounds good,” she said. “It’s almost better than, ‘hey, this girl’s been living with me for two weeks, and I’ve been dating her for two hours.’”

Rickon moved his head from side to side, as if weighing the options. “You know, I’m pretty okay with both.”

Grinning, Shireen pressed a kiss to his jaw. “Me, too.”

“Good,” Rickon said. With quite a bit of shuffling, Rickon placed her onto his seat, leaving the car to take the driver’s seat. “Now… are you ready to meet my family?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [13letters](http://archiveofourown.org/users/13letters/pseuds/13letters) for basically writing this one out in comments.

Shireen was a little nervous on the drive to Rickon’s parents’ house. He was trying to tell her about his family, but she was having a hard time listening. She hummed out responses and couldn’t stop running her hands over her face or fixing her hair. After a few minutes, Rickon pulled over and looked at her directly. It took her a while to realize that they weren’t moving, and then she looked back over to him.

“We don’t have to go,” was all he said.

Shaking her head, Shireen swallowed and tried to calm her nerves. “I’m just a bit riled up about moving out and stuff,” she explained. “After all that crap with my dad, and I don’t want to take it out on your family.”

Rickon laughed, throwing his head back. “Oh, you won’t be any worse than what I gave them when I moved out,” he said, giving her a smile. She felt a confused look cross her face that Rickon noticed. He went on. “We’re on good terms now. But there were a few months when things got really rocky.”

Sighing, Shireen licked her lips and faced Rickon fully. She caught his eyes flicking down to her mouth. With a deep breath, Shireen announced, “Okay. I’m ready.”

His hand drifted over her shoulder, following the strap of her dress. She glanced down to his fingers and felt a familiar fluttering sensation in her stomach. Only Rickon could do that to her: make her feel weak and dizzy and completely lost. Sucking in a breath, she met his gaze again. Rickon was leaning into her, inclining his head slightly. “I think you’re still a bit tense,” he said. “I can fix that.”

Kissing him was always an experience. Shireen could barely keep her head straight when his mouth was on hers. He was so attentive, holding her close and pouring affection into every kiss. Never had anyone kissed her the way Rickon kissed her. The sounds that escaped her were a bit surprising, but they only spurred Rickon on, making him kiss her all the more fiercely and deepening the kiss. His hands spanned her back, pressing them together over the armrest. Shireen wanted to climb into his lap if not for the steering wheel that was in the way.

Breaking the kiss slowly, Rickon gave her a smile. “Better?” he asked, swiping his fingers over her ribs.

He was still staring at her mouth and Shireen felt her heart trying to beat out of her chest. Grabbing him by the jaw, Shireen moved him back for another kiss. Her arms went around his neck, and she held him close. However, Rickon never stopped his hands from moving over her back, shoulders, arms, sides, and down to her legs. When they parted next, they were breathing hard with their faces flushed and massive smiles. Rickon chuckled, tapping his fingers over her legs.

“Ready now?” he asked. “Because if you’re not, we can keep making out until you are.”

Shireen felt her face flush more, but she nodded. Leaning back in her seat, she watched as Rickon exited the car. “Where are you—?”

Rickon was at her door, though, opening it and holding a hand out to her. Taking it tentatively, she stepped out, brushing the skirt of her dress down. Finally, she looked around. They were stopped in a nice neighborhood with a large house off to the right. Seeing all the cars in the driveway, Shireen turned to Rickon sharply. He cleared his throat and said, “Welcome to the Stark family home.”

Shireen hit him across the chest. “Did we seriously just spend all that time making out in your parents’ driveway?”

“Technically, we were on the street,” Rickon pointed out. He squeezed her hand gently. “And I’d be down to keep going if you want.”

Biting her lip, Shireen leaned up to peck him on the lips. “We have plenty of time for that at home,” she said. “Yet, you’ve gone and made us late.”

Rickon chuckled, leading her up to the house. “You needed to soothe your nerves,” he said. “It was in everyone’s best interest.”

Rolling her eyes, Shireen followed Rickon up to the front door. She held onto his hand, looking around at the beautifully-designed modern house. It was painted a cool grey color with white trim. Shireen couldn’t see into any of the windows because the curtains were all drawn. The sun was low on the horizon, and Shireen swallowed hard, waiting for Rickon to ring the doorbell. He finally did, giving her hand a light squeeze.

The door opened and his brother Robb appeared, waving a hand. “You made it!” he exclaimed. Without any further introductions, he turned back into the house walking away and calling that Rickon arrived.

“He’s totally getting married,” Shireen said, turning to Rickon.

Rickon pulled her into the house, and Shireen took a moment to admire the decorations and family pictures as he locked the door behind them. “Robb’s been married before,” he explained. “Divorced her, dated someone else, and he’s been single since. He might have a girlfriend now, but I doubt he’s getting married.”

Shireen hummed, glancing around and seeing no other members of his family. “Want to bet on it?” she asked. 

Laughing, Rickon led her deeper into the house. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll buy you dinner if you’re right.”

Rolling her eyes, Shireen said, “You’d buy me dinner anyway,” she said.

“Yeah, I would,” Rickon admitted giving her a smile. “But it can be a special dinner.”

Before Shireen could ask what that meant, they walked into a family room. Several people were sitting around, chatting amiably. When they spotted Rickon, the chatter stopped. Then, a woman who could only have been his mother walked in. She froze when she saw Shireen, and Rickon waved a hand. Shireen stopped herself from ducking her head and avoiding eye contact.

“Guys,” he said slowly. “This is my girlfriend Shireen. Shireen… this is my family.”

A short brown-haired woman scoffed, rolling her eyes. “We have names, you know.”

“That one’s Arya,” a red-headed woman said, stepping forward. “She’s a little short-tempered. I’m Sansa. Robb opened the door for you…” Without being prompted, Sansa led Shireen around the room, introducing everyone and having a small chat with them.

Shireen tried her best to smile at everyone, trying to keep their names straight in her head. Rickon had four siblings and one cousin in attendance, though almost all of them had brought over a significant other, making the number double. His parents were very kind, offering her hugs and smiles. Shireen got caught up in a conversation with her cousin Gendry who was here as Arya’s boyfriend. They spent some time catching up, as conversation levels returned to what she assumed was normal. Rickon was speaking with his eldest brother in a corner of the room when he suddenly sprinted off. She watched him go until Arya caught her attention again, asking about something.

Suddenly, Rickon appeared at her shoulder, tugging on her hand. “Come on,” he hissed out. “We need to leave fast.”

“Why?” Shireen asked, stepping slightly away from her previous conversation. She was having a much better time here than she expected, and she really didn’t want to leave yet.

“Because…” Rickon glanced around, as if trying to hide.

Then, Robb bounced into the room, holding onto the hand of a pretty brunette girl. Shireen turned to Rickon quickly. He mouthed the word ‘girlfriend’ at the same time she mouthed ‘wife’ at him. They had a small staring match while Robb called the room to attention. “In honor of Rickon finally getting a girlfriend,” he started.

“Fucker,” Rickon called loudly.

Robb rolled his eyes and went on. “We will be having a family game night after dinner!” There was a mixed reaction to this. Some people looked excited about it, asking about preferred games and such, but a few people looked a bit worried. Robb walked over to Rickon, the brunette in tow behind him. “And now, you can’t run off,” he said, sticking his tongue out at Rickon. “Shireen, this is my girlfriend Margaery.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Margaery said, giving her a wide smile. “I love your dress.”

“Thank you.” Shireen felt her face flushing. Margaery was absolutely gorgeous, and despite her loss to the bet with Rickon, the compliment from such a lovely girl was flattering.

Rickon leaned down and hissed into her ear, “I told you.”

Shireen elbowed him in the ribs, watching Robb and Margaery wander back to the kitchen. They were nuzzled quite close together, a quiet conversation between the two of them. Shireen rounded on Rickon. “They’re engaged,” she said firmly.

“Sweetie, no,” Rickon said slowly. He lifted a hand slowly to brush her scarred cheek. Shireen felt a bubble of warmth in her chest at hearing the term of endearment. “He just said they were only dating.”

Giving Rickon a look, Shireen wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. She leaned against his chest and glanced up at him. Then, she rocked forward on the balls of her feet and kissed his jaw. “I still think you’re wrong,” she said, stroking her fingers over his back. “And there’s still plenty of time to figure it out.”

“You do _not_ want to stay for game night,” Rickon told her.

“It can’t be that bad,” Shireen said, releasing him. She turned in time to catch some of his siblings quickly looking away. Rickon’s chest brushed against her shoulder and she heard him sigh loudly. 

They continued to mill about the family room, joining in a conversation with Rickon’s other brother Bran, his boyfriend Jojen, and Gendry. A few of the guests for the night wandered in and out of the room and Shireen watched them go with only a small amount of curiosity. After a half hour more, Rickon’s mother, Catelyn, called them to dinner. 

Shireen watched Rickon carefully throughout the dinner. He was incredibly tense, shooting harsh looks at his siblings. She placed her hand gently on his leg, trying to calm him, but it only seemed to egg him on further. It was easy to be with him, even around his family, and she enjoyed the noise that filled the room. The Starks talked about anything and everything, interrupting each other and starting new conversations out of the blue. It made Shireen feel like she was fully part of their family, bundled up in their form of chaos.

They asked her questions, too, and she answered honestly when she felt like the responses weren’t going to make Rickon even tenser. It was a lovely dinner, with great food and good company, but Rickon still looked willing to bail out by the end of it. Unfortunately, Robb loudly announced game night while at the table, and the entire family shuffled to a room that was already prepped for Monopoly.

“Oh, fuck no,” Rickon said loudly, grabbing onto Shireen’s hand and pulling her away. “Let’s hide.”

“Bad idea,” Jon said. Shireen had only briefly met his cousin, but he seemed kind enough when he gave Rickon’s shoulder a pat. “Unless you want the entire family to think you’re fucking her in your room.”

Shireen felt her face go red, and she saw the same color on Rickon’s cheeks. She tried to give his hand a comforting squeeze and nudge him into the room. He went slowly, and there was quite a time when they were all settling onto the plush carpet, arranging game pieces and dividing out money. Bran caught Arya trying to steal more than she was supposed to start with, and he took everyone’s back, splitting it up evenly. Sansa quickly claimed the thimble, holding it to her chest until the game was ready to start. Rickon stole the car and the top hat when no one was looking and shoved them both into Shireen’s hand.

“They’ll be scouring for pieces for a while,” he explained. “This way, we can just stay settled until the game starts.”

Sitting still was not one of Shireen’s fortes, especially when she was a guest in someone’s house. She fidgeted while the Starks settled on game pieces and Gendry took drink orders. He left to the kitchen to go mix a few, and Arya stood up quickly. “I’ll help you!” she called, following him.

“Maybe I should help, too,” Shireen said, giving Rickon a small smile and trying to stand.

Rickon took her wrist gently and pulled her back down. “Shireen, honey, that’s not what she’s helping him with,” he said.

“Then, what’s she…” Shireen trailed off, blushing furiously, and hoping that no one caught the exchange. Unfortunately, she caught sight of Margaery elbowing Robb in the ribs and whispering something in his ear. She tried to make herself smaller, hoping not to draw attention to herself.

Rickon placed his arm over her shoulders. He leaned down to her ear and whispered. “But we can go make out somewhere, too, if you want…”

“Rickon!” she hissed out. She tried to keep her voice down, glancing around to see if anyone heard him. Only Margaery was looking at them, resting her chin in one hand and a sly grin on her face. Robb was talking to her about something, but she just waved him off, continuing to look over at Rickon.

Glancing around, Shireen noticed that everyone was back in their own bubbles. Sansa was staring at her phone, typing up a message with one hand and rolling the thimble between the fingers of her other. Jon had caught Robb’s attention and they were talking about some game. Bran had just looked up to Gendry and Arya, giving them a knowing look that Arya promptly ignored. They settled down, finally starting the game.

Shireen tried to save her money, playing as strategic as possible. Some of the Starks were brutal, though, forcing everyone to go through on whatever they said they would do enough so that Shireen thought it was in her best interest not to talk. After a few rounds, Margaery moved an extra space than she rolled for.

Jon cleared his throat loudly. “Learn to count, Marg,” he said. “You’re in jail.”

“No, I’m not,” she said, smiling brightly at him. “I think I know that much, Jon Snow.”

“Um, no,” Arya said, frowning. “You’re definitely in jail.”

Margaery conceded, going to jail, but crossing her arms and looking peeved about it. Shireen tried to play smart watching Rickon make sloppy mistakes and not buying much. Despite her care, she found herself nearly bankrupt. She shot Rickon a slightly worried look when she landed on a space she knew she couldn’t afford. She just needed two more spaces to round the board and be back in the game.

“Um,” she tried to stall. She really didn’t want to be the first one out. “I don’t think I have enough…”

Rickon leaned down next to her, picking something up off the floor. “You dropped this, dear,” he said, handing her a few bills.

Smiling, Shireen took the money, paying off the rent and going along. It was only two turns later, when Rickon went bankrupt, that she realized she would have remembered dropping some money. He sat out calmly, watching her and helping her out where he could. The next out was Ned, who lost with grace, scooting next to his wife and stealing her drink.

Then, the doorbell rang. Rickon made to get up, but his dad gestured for him to stay and left himself. He returned moments later with another man and a woman in tow. The man looked roughly Robb’s age with a cocky smile and the aura of arrogance, and the woman had long brown hair and matching eyes. She immediately went to Sansa’s side and began talking to her. Shireen felt Rickon go still next to her. He shoved an arm between her back and the sofa they were leaning against to hold onto her. Robb was getting up to give the man a hug, though Jon was rolling his eyes.

“Heard you were having game night without me,” he said, taking a seat next to Bran. “Get me some money, banker.”

“We’re too far in,” Bran said, not looking over. “Wait for the next one, Theon.”

“There’s going to be a next one?” Margaery asked. “Won’t this take a few more hours?”

Bran shrugged. “Probably.”

Sansa reached over Rickon to tap Shireen’s leg. “This is my best friend, Jeyne,” she said. “That there is Theon: Robb’s buddy.”

Theon just sat on the floor, running a constant commentary of what was going on and questioning everyone’s motives. It took another few rounds before he even seemed to notice her. Shireen met his gaze briefly before rolling for her turn. “Who’s the new chick?” Theon asked loudly. “Is she Rickon’s new fuck buddy?”

“ _Theon!_ ” Jeyne said loudly.

“She’s my girlfriend, you dick,” Rickon spat out. Shireen could feel his muscles tightening, and he gripped her hip, moving closer to her. “And I do not have fuck buddies.”

Theon shrugged, looking back at Rickon. “Sucks for you, man,” he said. “Wylla would totally go for you, and she’s a sight better to look at than Scarface here.”

The entire Stark family went dead quiet while Rickon nearly sprung to his feet. He was still holding Shireen’s hand, though, and it felt like his hold was the only thing keeping him from attacking Theon. Shireen bowed her head, feeling the familiar sting of tears in her eyes. No one in Rickon’s family had mentioned anything about her face, probably because they were being nice, but Theon didn’t seem to care. She heard movement around her, and Theon let out a small yelp, quickly followed by a, “Fuck off, Snow!” 

“ _Out_ , Theon,” Jon said firmly. It sounded as if he was reprimanding a dog. Shireen didn’t look up; afraid that she’d start crying if anyone actually saw her scars now. Jon and Theon scuffled for a bit, before she heard the door slam shut. “Did you seriously invite _Theon_ , Robb?”

“Okay, I know it seems bad, but—”

“It was a horrible idea,” Catelyn said. The authority in her voice was clear. “You’ll tell us first next time.”

“And if he so much as…” Jon didn’t finish the thought, but Shireen could hear the anger in his voice.

“The poor girl,” Jeyne muttered.

Shireen felt something in her break and she mumbled out, “Where’s the bathroom?”

Rickon’s grip tightened on her. “Want me to…?”

Shireen shook her head vigorously, heading out of the room as quickly as possible without crashing into anyone. She stopped in the hallway, leaning against a wall and slumping down to the floor. A minute later, an arm wrapped around her shoulder and helped her up. Shireen looked up to see Margaery smiling at her. Immediately backing away, Shireen said, “I’m so sorry. I just—”

“Don’t apologize,” she said. “If anyone should be apologizing, it’s me. I told Robb it’d be okay to invite Theon because of some news, but he’s just so crass and... It wasn’t a good idea.”

Wiping at her eyes, Shireen followed Margaery’s lead into a bathroom. Shireen washed off her face and accepted a towel from Margaery. Finally, she fanned her face and took a deep breath. Margaery gave her a warm smile. Then, Shireen remembered her bet. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” Margaery replied.

“Are you and Robb engaged?”

Margaery laughed, digging the chain of her necklace out of her collar. On the end on the chain there was a gold ring with a pretty diamond on it. “We weren’t going to say anything because you showed up,” she said, a coy smile on her face. “Robb thought that Rickon needed a day to himself.”

Shireen smiled at her, mumbling out, “Congratulations.”

“Now, can I ask—”

A knock sounded at the door. Margaery sighed and opened it up. Shireen drummed her fingers on the edge of the bathtub where she was sitting. Margaery turned to her with a wink. “Your beau,” she said. “I’ll give you some time alone.”

Rickon stepped into the room around Margaery, automatically reaching for Shireen. She stood up, moving into his arms and pressing her nose into his chest. His hand went up, stroking her hair gently. She felt him breathe out a long breath against her hair. Rickon held her tighter, moving her slowly until they were back in the family room and cuddled together on a sofa. He pressed several kisses to her scarred cheek. “I told you we should have left,” he said. “Fucking Theon insulting you… I’ll punch him in the face next time I see him.”

“You don’t have to,” Shireen mumbled, looking up to him. She skimmed her fingers over his jaw, watching the anger dissipate from his eyes. Soon, he was looking at her with nothing but love in his eyes. “It was my idea.”

“But nobody gets to insult my girlfriend,” Rickon said firmly. He leaned down and kissed her soundly, pulling away faster than she expected. He sighed deeply, raised his voice, and said, “Now, if my _fucking_ family knew anything about privacy…”

There was a large amount of shuffling from the doorway with hushed whispers. A small giggle escaped Shireen and she reached up for his neck, holding him close. She dug her nose into his neck and pressed a kiss to his throat. Rickon’s hand went back into her hair again, combing through it and pressing her closer. They stayed in the family room, just holding onto each other until his mom came back in.

Catelyn sat across from them, a gentle smile on her face. “We’re going to have tea and dessert,” she said. “Would you like to join us?”

Rickon looked over to Shireen, still stroking her hair. “I think we’re going to head out,” he said. “Get some time away.”

Catelyn nodded, standing up as they did. Rickon grabbed onto Shireen’s hand, not letting go as he gave his mother a hug goodbye. Shireen also gave her a hug, and Catelyn walked them to the door. “Come back soon,” she said. “You’re always welcome for dinner.”

“Thank you,” Shireen said, turning to his mother. “I really appreciate it. And, um… tell Robb that he can tell you.”

“Tell us what?” Catelyn asked, giving Rickon a confused look. Rickon just shrugged.

“Margaery knows what I mean,” Shireen said, tugging on Rickon’s hand and pulling him over to the car. 

He followed her, giving his mother a small wave goodbye. It wasn’t until they were on the road back to the apartment that Rickon asked, “What’s Marg telling them?”

His fingers were tapping next to the window, watching the streetlights flick past. Shireen hummed, sparing him the smallest glance as she drove. “You might want to check your phone.”

Rickon brows knitted. He dug his phone out of his pocket and it chimed as soon as he had it in his hand. “When were you going to tell me you were psychic?” he asked. Then, his brow furrowed further, watching his phone light up with messages. He let out a small laugh, typing back a response. “So I guess I owe you dinner.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Balancing all these stories is going to be hard, so tell me if you have a preference for what I should prioritize updating.


	6. Chapter 6

“Details, Shireen. We need details.”

Shireen glanced up slowly, looking away from the sparkling silver nail polish that Margaery was painting her toes with. Sansa and Arya were both looking at her intently, no longer concerned with pretending that they were doing something else. She had come over to Sansa’s apartment a couple hours ago for a girls’ night since Rickon was gone for a few days helping out Bran with something. Biting the inside of her cheek, Shireen tried to stall for time. Luckily, Margaery saved her.

“Give the girl a break,” she said. Margaery tossed her hair over her shoulder, looking back to Sansa and Arya before turning back to her task. “So she’s living with your brother… do you really want to know the intimate details of your baby brother’s life?”

Arya gave Margaery a stern look. “We covered for his ass at family dinner,” she said. “She owes us.”

Shireen cowered back slightly, letting her hair fall in front of her face. She really liked both Sansa and Arya, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to completely detail her life of the past month or so to them. Unfortunately, Margaery’s curiosity was piqued. Her big brown eyes were bright when she looked back over to Shireen, meeting her gaze.

“Covered for what?” Margaery asked slowly, a small smile on her face.

“We’ve met her before,” Sansa said. “A few weeks ago… after Rickon panicked from a one night stand…”

“No!” Margaery called out, nearly spilling the bottle of nail polish. She quickly closed the lid and set the bottle down on a table. “You’re joking! And now you’re dating him _and_ living with him?”

Shireen pursed her lips together. She was worried that things would come out sounding horrible when the fact of the matter was that Rickon was always incredibly kind and thoughtful around her. He never did anything without her permission first, and he gave her free reign to take over his apartment. Rickon had even given her a copy of his apartment contract so she knew what they were and weren’t allowed to do. Thinking of them as anything other than a happy couple was simply an inaccuracy.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” she mumbled out, not daring to meet the gaze of the three fierce women in front of her. She glanced around at the floor, letting the thought trail off.

Arya made a frustrated noise. “Details, Shireen,” she repeated. “Cause if my little brother is messing with you, then I’m going to go kick his ass.”

A small laugh escaped from Shireen’s lips. She still remembered her first time really talking to Rickon, where he made it abundantly clear that his sisters would destroy him if he did anything wrong. Sansa and Margaery both had their eyebrows raised in similar expressions of curiosity. Shireen gave them a small smile, looking down to her feet and wiggling her toes. She let out a heavy sigh.

“Well, first of all, nothing happened,” she said. Shireen wanted to get that straight right away. She really didn’t want Rickon to get in trouble for something he didn’t do. “I mean, that first night. We didn’t sleep together. We still haven’t actually. Well, I mean, we have. But we just sleep, I swear. He hasn’t—we haven’t… We haven’t _slept_ together…”

Arya was looking at her with an amused expression. She ran her fingers through her short brown hair, ruffling it slightly and shaking it free. She cleared her throat loudly. “So what I’m hearing is that you haven’t fucked our baby brother, but you sleep in the same bed,” she said bluntly.

Shireen’s face immediately went hot. She wrapped her arms tight around her knees, drawing them in to her chest. “We actually sleep on the couch…”

Sansa furrowed her brows at Shireen. She leaned forward and glanced up at the ceiling. “He made you sleep on the couch?”

“No, not at all,” Shireen said quickly. She needed to backtrack immediately, so she twisted her fingers together to give herself time to organize her thoughts. “He gave me his bed, and he’s been sleeping on the couch. I just… I don’t sleep well, so I usually go over in the middle of the night.”

Margaery looked over to her with a dreamy smile on her face. She placed her chin in a hand, leaning onto the coffee table. “I bet he’s a cuddler,” she said. “Likes to wrap his arms around you and pull you in close… maybe he kisses your neck while he’s still dozing off… Oh! You’re blushing! He does!”

Shireen’s face was positively burning, remembering how Rickon always curled around her during the night. He tucked her under his chin every night, his arms snaking around her waist, one usually bent loosely between her breasts, his leg hooked possessively over hers. It felt safe there, being in his arms, and while sleeping on the couch wasn’t nearly as comfortable as his bed, she slept better there. Rickon really didn’t seem to mind either, greeting her with sleepy kisses in the early hours of the morning before he left to work. Shireen let out a sigh, wishing he was with her now, wishing that he’d be back from Bran’s sooner. Her hand reached out for her phone, ready to text him and let him know.

Arya leapt forward and snatched her phone away. “No, you don’t,” she said sharply. “This is girls’ night for a reason. So spill.”

With a heavy sigh, Shireen prepared to tell them about it. Slowly, the story came out. The early meetings and their constant interruptions before he insisted on taking her out on a proper date; how he kissed her like she was the only thing that mattered; how they somehow found their way to each other every night; the way they cooked dinner for each other and played around in his apartment; and how she really didn’t like that he was gone for a few days to help Bran and Jojen re-arrange their house. Rickon still came over around lunchtime to steal kisses from her, he still went to work, but she wanted him back. She wanted to sleep in his arms again.

Sansa and Margaery let out simultaneous sighs when she finished. They were both leaning toward her, looking positively lost. Sansa let out a loud groan, throwing her head back and laying across the couch, effectively landing in Arya’s lap. “I need a boyfriend,” she said, closing her eyes. Arya started laughing, and Sansa aimed a lazy swipe at her sister’s face. “Shut up. Just because you have Gendry…”

Margaery scrunched up her face at Sansa. Then, she set about examining her nails, picking at the small imperfections on her skin. “Sorry things didn’t work out with Willas,” she said. “You guys were really cute together.”

Shireen raised her eyebrows, seeing her chance to derail the conversation from details of her own life. “Who’s Willas?”

“Marg’s brother,” Arya said. She gave Sansa a pointed look. “And Sansa’s ex.”

“We dated for four months,” Sansa said. “You’d think by then he’d know if he actually wanted to spend time with me. But no, he’s always caught up in work, changing jobs, too busy doing things to decide if he wants to get married. It was too frustrating.”

Margaery clicked her tongue at Sansa. “Gotta take care of yourself first, babe,” she said. “Loras is a much better boyfriend.”

Shireen looked up, hearing the familiar name. She could have sworn she knew who this Loras was. “Isn’t he dating my uncle?”

“Which is why Sansa can’t date him,” Arya said. “Marg’s been trying to set her up ever since the Willas fallout.” Arya let out a sigh looking down at her sister. Shireen gave them a small smile, watching how Sansa and Arya were so obviously sisters who liked to get on each other’s nerves. Arya was poking at Sansa’s face while Sansa tried to swat her hands away.

“Okay,” Sansa said, sitting up sharply. Her long red hair flew forward over her shoulders, and Sansa expertly flicked her hand through the long locks, flipping it over her shoulder. “No more moping! Time for fun.”

They settled in around the coffee table, painting each other’s nails. They finished the task with _Mean Girls_ on in the background, quoting the movie at each other and waving their hands around to let the polish dry. It wasn’t until the movie was nearly over that the doorbell rang. Sansa bounced up and went to open the door.

“Did someone order pizza?” a new voice called into the room.

“Asha, yes!” Sansa replied. She came back in carrying an astounding five large pizza boxes, balanced on one arm. Another woman was behind Sansa. She had black hair styled into a cute pixie cut, and she was smiling at the group.

“Are you trying to make me fat for my wedding?” Margaery asked, walking over and giving the girl a hug. “I think five pizzas is a little much.”

“It’s three pizzas, breadsticks, wings, and mozzarella sticks,” Asha corrected. She helped Sansa line up the boxes on her kitchen counter. Arya helped Shireen to her feet, and they walked over to join the party in the kitchen. Asha glanced over to Shireen and gave her a large smile. “I heard that Theon was being a dick to Rickon’s new girl, so I figured that I’d make it up to her with some food and a great picture.”

Shireen returned the smile, muttering out her thanks. Margaery and Sansa were bouncing over at Asha, though, demanding to see this picture. Arya, however, was completely ignoring them, filling up a plate with the aforementioned food. She was halfway through a bite when Asha turned her phone to face her, and Arya nearly choked on the cheese of her pizza. Margaery thumped Arya on the back to help her recover while Sansa poured her a drink. 

Grinning, Asha turned the phone to Shireen. Shireen was greeted with the picture of Theon almost as she remembered him. All of his arrogance was gone, though, and he looked royally pissed at having his picture taken. She assumed that this was because of the massive bruise blooming over the side of his face. He was sulking, she realized now. With a small chuckle, she looked up at Asha.

“Courtesy of Jon Snow,” she said, turning back fondly to the picture. “Apparently, he kept going off about things even after he left, so Jon threw him a good one. A picture really is worth a thousand words…”

All the ladies in the room shared a good laugh at Theon’s misfortune. Then, they split up the pizzas lounging about on the couches while Sansa and Asha got swallowed up in work talk. Shireen tried to keep to herself despite Asha’s insistence on knowing what happened with Theon and the subsequent conversation about living with Rickon now. Sansa and Arya still made a big deal about it, asking Shireen about if she was sure she wanted to live with him or date him. With some effort, Shireen made Margaery take up a conversation about her upcoming wedding with Robb, and she enthusiastically picked up the talking, chattering about how she needed to pick out a dress and plan the wedding.

Shireen settled into a corner of a couch. She was munching on a mozzarella stick when her phone buzzed. It had since been abandoned on the floor from Arya’s previous involvement. She casually reached for it, swiping the screen to bring up her unread text message. She smiled, seeing it was from Rickon.

_I miss you :(_

Shireen bit her lip, suppressing her grin. She quickly typed out: _I miss you, too._

His response was almost immediate. _How goes life in the apartment without me?_

_I’m at Sansa’s, actually. We’re having a girls’ night._

_So you’ll be gone when I get back? :(_

_When are you getting back?_

_Um… I was going to go back later tonight._

Gnawing on the inside of her cheek, Shireen thought it over. She was sure she could leave whenever, but the other girls would tease her for it. Still, she really missed Rickon.

_I suppose you could pick me up…_

_Really?_

_Well, I’d need a ride home anyway…_

_I’ll be there for you soon ;)_

Shireen grinned, staring down at her phone. She hadn’t been sure what kind of person Rickon would be in a serious relationship, but they were getting pretty serious, and he was still really silly around her. It was comforting, but it was a little strange. Shireen had always thought that relationships were supposed to be more and more serious, getting things done, and reaching milestones. She sighed, putting down her phone. When she glanced up again, Shireen saw that everyone was staring at her.

“Who was that?” Arya asked, playing at casual with her slice of pizza. She tried to take a bite without looking, missing her mouth in the process.

Rolling her eyes, Shireen leveled a look at Arya. “Guess.”

“Rickon,” Sansa and Margaery said at once. They shared a look and a sly smile, giving Shireen a once-over. Then, they let out a shared sigh.

“Wait, are you bailing on us?” Arya asked, leaning forward and abandoning her pizza.

Shireen ducked down, feeling her cheek flush. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “But he’s going to come pick me up.”

Arya rolled her eyes, slumping back into the couch. She let out an exaggerated groan, causing Asha to give her a glare. Sansa picked up a pillow, tossing it at Arya’s face. This, of course, caused Arya to retaliate, though she missed Sansa by a wide margin and hit Margaery. Margaery took up the challenge, finding another pillow and throwing it at Asha. Sure enough, a full-blown pillow fight broke out. While there were no feathers flying about the room like Shireen expected, she was still overjoyed to finally be part of an actual pillow fight. Sansa disappeared briefly, bringing more pillows and turning on loud pop music.

They were fully engaged in attacking one another when a loud knock came from the door. Shireen automatically made for the door, but Margaery grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. “Really, we should make you hide and have him search for you,” she said. “Sansa, be a dear and get the door.”

Shireen sat obediently next to Margaery, their arms looped together. She started bouncing her feet, watching Sansa leave for the door. Straining her ears, she heard the faint sound of Rickon entering the apartment.

“Christ, woman,” he said loudly. “I’ve been knocking for five minutes. You might need to turn the music down.”

“Taylor Swift never needs to be turned down, buddy,” Sansa replied, scoffing at the statement. Still, Asha went over to lower the volume. Slowly, Sansa and Rickon entered the room. As soon as Rickon saw Shireen, he lit up, struggling to get free from his sister’s grasp. Sansa, however, held on tight. “Now, whose idea was it to you to take Shireen away from us?”

Rickon rolled his eyes, finally breaking free from his sister. He went directly behind Shireen on the couch, leaning over the back of it, kissing Shireen on the cheek. Shireen felt a blush creep onto her face, slightly embarrassed that Rickon would kiss her scars in front of company. “Marg,” he said loudly. “You’ve already stolen my brother. I would appreciate having my girlfriend back.”

Margaery hummed. “I haven’t even had her that long…”

Shireen leaned back to look up at Rickon. He met her gaze with a goofy upside-down smile. A smile found its way onto her face, and he kissed her again. “Ready to go?” he asked.

Nodding, Shireen stood up. She reached for her plate of abandoned mozzarella sticks, planning on putting it back in the kitchen. However, Rickon was looking at them with unconcealed interest, so she held one up for him to bite into. He did so happily, taking it from her to finish it off. She smiled at him, giving his hand a small squeeze on her way to collect her things. She bounced about Sansa’s room, gathering her belongings back into the bag she’d brought.

When she stepped back into the living room, Rickon’s face was bright red and everyone else was staring at him.

“What happened?” she asked, taking a small step forward.

“Apparently, I’m supposed to do something before you’re allowed to go,” Rickon muttered, shooting a glare at Margaery. To her credit, Margaery didn’t flinch away. She simply nodded her head. Rickon let out a heavy sigh.

Shireen froze, dropping her arm down and letting the bag dangle just above the floor. “Um, okay then,” she said. “I can just, um, wait here.”

“Uh huh.” Rickon glanced around and bit his lip. He let out a small muttered ‘fuck’ before crossing over to her quickly. His arms wrapped around back, pulling her against his chest before his lips slid over hers. Letting out a small gasp of surprise, Shireen dropped her bag, her eyes widening as Rickon lifted her off the floor, one of his arms sliding down and holding her under her ass. His mouth opened slightly, and his tongue slid into her mouth, moving over her teeth to find her own. Shireen was filled with the emotion of his kiss, forgetting about the rest of the room and snaking her arms about his neck. He seemed to be continuously moving into her, managing to press a hand to her scarred cheek and holding her close as he kissed her. Very slowly, his teeth still biting at her lower lip, he pulled away. “To be fair,” he whispered, his breaths coming short. “I wanted to do that anyway.”

Heat rose to Shireen’s face immediately, and she ducked her head into Rickon’s shoulder, not wanting to see the reaction of the other women in the room. Carefully, Rickon set her back down, brushing her hair into place and leaning down to grab her bag. Then, he took her hand firmly and pulled her toward the door. Shireen followed after him, looking back to the room of slack-jawed women staring after him. When Shireen turned back to Rickon, she heard Margaery say, “Do you think I could get Robb to kiss me like that?”

Shireen heaved out a sigh, leaning onto Rickon’s arm. She felt him press his mouth to her hair again. “You cut your hair,” he said, opening the car door for her.

“I donated it,” Shireen said. She ran her fingers through her hair. It now rested just past her shoulders, significantly shorter than when it had been at her hips. Rickon dug his fingers into her hair, pulling it out again. He watched her take a seat before crossing the car.

He started up the engine and was on the road when he said, “So how were my sisters?”

“Um, invasive?” Shireen replied, giving him a look. Rickon raised his eyebrows at her, so she explained about all the questions they asked and all the details she was forced to give them. She shied around their celibacy so far for as long as she could. When she mentioned it, Rickon just laughed.

“You know we can do that whenever you want,” Rickon said, reaching over for her hand. He squeezed it tight, drawing it up and kissing her knuckles. “I just didn’t want you to feel forced into anything. It needs to be your decision as much as mine.”

Smiling at him, Shireen leaned over the armrest to kiss his cheek. “You’re so good to me.”

Rickon drove on in silence, parking over at his place and leading her up the stairs. He kissed her a few more times before going over to the couch. Shireen rushed over, remembering the small mess she made. “I’ll clean it up!” 

Rickon was grinning at her, holding up the PlayStation controller. He hit it against his head a few times. “You have to tell me what you were playing,” he said. 

Shireen’s face flushed, and she weakly reached for the controller. “I was bored,” she explained. Rickon pulled the controller further from her reach, raising his eyebrows at her. “It was _Kingdom Hearts_ …”

Laughing, Rickon handed her the controller. Then, he leaned forward to kiss her cheek again. “Of course you found the most childish game I own,” he said. He moved about, putting away all the things until Shireen insisted that she do it. He turned to her and brushed his knuckles over her scars. “It isn’t hard to clean up a couch, honey.”

“Maybe you don’t have to…” Shireen murmured, grabbing onto his hand with both of hers. She tugged him lightly toward his room. “There is a bed…”

“And I can fall asleep with you in my arms?” he asked. He gave her another kiss before heading into the room. He went into the bathroom and brushed his teeth quickly. Shireen followed him, also brushing her teeth. Then, Rickon wandered into the room. “I like the sound of this.”

“But I’m not…!” Shireen called weakly after him, stepping into the room to find Rickon shirtless. Immediately, she felt the heat rising to her face. She stopped in the doorway, rubbing weakly at her arms.

Rickon gave her a small smile, pulling on a clean shirt. “I get it,” he said. Slowly, he walked across the room and kissed her soundly before pulling her into a hug. “Your choice, remember?”

Shireen smiled up at him, returning the hug. His hand went back into her hair, stroking through it a few times. “Thank you,” she mumbled.

“It looks really good,” he said, still toying with her hair. He combed it away from her face before releasing her and climbing into his bed. He burrowed under the sheets, hugging one of his pillows and looking at her expectantly. “Are you going to join me?”

With a small laugh, Shireen nodded. Having expected to sleep over at Sansa’s, she was already in her pajamas, so she turned off the lights. Feeling her way over to the edge of it, she sat down before slowly sliding under the sheets. Rickon was waiting for her, but he went slowly, tentatively reaching out for her hand. Shireen gave it willingly, letting him pull her close and wrap his arms around her. That feeling of safety washed over her again, the panic of nights spent alone fleeing her system when Rickon dug his nose into her neck before kissing her there.

Just before he drifted off, Shireen heard him let out a small mumble, but she couldn’t quite make out the words. Turning toward Rickon, she had every intention to wake him and ask what he had said, but he looked so peaceful and calm that she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Instead, she just curled into his chest and let sleep take her over.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once upon a time, this story was going to remain PG-13.
> 
> Not anymore.

It was the beginning of summer vacation for most people. Unfortunately, Rickon and Shireen had their own schedules to follow, making them busy during their work hours, waiting out the day until they could spend their evenings together. Rickon still occasionally asked Shireen out, claiming that they needed “date nights” and Shireen usually said yes through her laughter. He really liked taking her out and spending time with her. Ever since his brief departure for a few days, their evenings were usually spent with Shireen playing video games. Rickon sprawled out on the couch, resting his head in her lap while she played.

He caught her walking in the wrong direction and said, “Not that—”

Shireen cut him off with a sharp hiss. “Stop that!” she said loudly. “I’ll play this game how I want, and there’s a _box_ over here.”

“The boxes aren’t part of the story,” Rickon mumbled out. He wiggled his arms around, wrapping one behind her and squeezing her ass in the process.

Letting out a small yelp, Shireen glared down at him. “Do I distract you while you’re playing video games?” she asked.

“Yes,” Rickon said firmly. “You do. All the time. It’s like you just have to start prancing around wearing only one of my shirts as soon as I start playing.”

Shireen shoved his head lightly, continuing on with the game. Rickon snuggled up closer to her, holding his hands together on the other side of her hips. He watched her go wandering around quite some time, until he got thirsty.

With an exaggerated groan, he moved away, stretching his back in the process. Shireen laughed at him, swatting at his chest before turning back to the game and walking around some more. Rickon left the room slowly, going into the kitchen and pouring himself a glass of water. He drank it slowly, watching Shireen shake her head at herself occasionally. A few locks of her hair got caught on the back of the sofa, and he was tempted to move them back into place. She was entering a fight, though, so Rickon walked back over with his eyes trained on the TV. He wanted to see how well she did. 

He took a seat on the edge of the couch, watching her slowly finish the battle. “Good job,” he said, turning to her. “That was really—” Rickon choked on his words, looking at her. She was smiling up at him. However, she was no longer wearing his shirt, nor was she wearing her pajama shorts. Shireen was sitting in her underwear as if it was the most normal thing in the world. He swallowed hard. “Yeah… that’s really nice.”

Shireen paused the game, stretching slightly. Rickon watched how the stretch moved her body, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t give her breasts more attention than necessary. His jaw went slack, watching her squirm about and readjust her arms, which moved her breasts quite a bit more. With a small smile at him, Shireen unpaused the game and continued playing.

“Aw, fuck no,” he said, reaching over for the controller. He easily pulled it from her grasp, pausing the game in the process, and placed his other hand on her waist. Half-crawling over the couch, Rickon leaned into Shireen, kissing her all over her face before claiming her mouth.

Her back was arched over the armrest, and Rickon slowly moved his mouth down her jaw and throat, running his tongue over her skin. Shireen let out a pleasing moan, and he paused briefly, looking up at her. His hands were over her hips, fingering the lace of her underwear.

“You wanna tell me where your clothes went?” he asked.

Shireen just smiled, shrugging lightly. His heart was pounding, looking over her body, seeing it exposed to him. Rickon sighed, moving down to kiss the tops of her breasts. There was a small movement above him before he felt her hands digging into his hair, pulling him closer. Scraping his teeth over her skin, he felt Shireen shudder beneath him. “Remember when I said I wanted you to fuck me?” she asked.

Rickon’s heart skipped a beat. If this was her idea of foreplay, then he was looking forward to spending his future with her. Slowly, he nodded, settling against her chest and looking up at her.

“I’d really like that,” she said, her cheeks going a little red.

Reaching up, Rickon wove his fingers into her hair, letting it fall through his fingers. He grinned at her. “Are you blushing from asking?” he asked. “Or do you not like talking dirty?”

She bit at her lip, gnawing it between her teeth. Rickon started kissing her again, moving up her neck and back to her lips. He gripped her hips, pulling her into his lap as he kissed her. Shireen gasped against his mouth, her arms tightening around his neck. They kissed for a few minutes more before Shireen pulled away slightly. “I thought you might not want to,” she mumbled out.

Rickon laughed, lifting her into his arms. He walked them toward his bedroom. “You think I haven’t spent the last few weeks fantasizing about the incredibly sexy woman living with me?” he asked. “Because I can assure you that few other things have crossed my mind.”

He set her down on the bed, pulling off his shirt and moving next to her. He reached for her waist again, turning her into him before he kissed her again. Shireen moved into the kiss, reaching down and pulling at the waist of his pants. The light weight of her fingers moved around, nearly freeing him, but Shireen pulled away. “What were you thinking about?” she asked shyly.

Rickon smirked at her. He brushed her hair from her face, kissing her some more and mumbling about, “Regarding what?”

“Um… me?” Shireen filled in, looking about the room.

Taking her by the chin, Rickon forced her to meet his gaze. “I was thinking that I’d like to pin you up against that wall and fuck you until you’re screaming my name.” He took a moment to kiss her neck again, sucking on it gently. “Would you like that?”

“Fuck,” Shireen breathed out, stretching forward to kiss him.

Rickon pulled away, holding her steady. “I’m sorry,” he said, grinning. “Was that a ‘yes’?”

Nodding, Shireen breathed out a small ‘yes’ before rolling on top of him, moving over him to kiss him fully as his hands kneaded into the soft flesh of her body, slowly lifting her so he could sit up. It took a lot longer than he expected to get each other out of their clothes, though he suspected that this was largely due to how much effort they were putting into kissing each other. Once they were finally naked together, there were a few minutes where they simply explored the other’s body, finding all the areas of sensitivity and putting their hands and mouths there.

In an effort to keep Shireen as happy as possible, Rickon worked his way between her thighs, spreading her open with his fingers before his tongue followed suit. She shuddered hard, reaching out weakly for him before falling back down to her elbows. With great effort, Rickon worked his mouth all over her, seeking out points that brought forth sounds of pleasure and keeping her thoroughly occupied with herself for the time being. 

It wasn’t until she fell back into his bed that he finally stopped. “You okay?” he asked, examining the new flush that was spread over her face and down to her chest.

Shireen was breathing hard, her entire body moving with the effort of each breath, but she managed to nod and give him a smile. Grinning, Rickon moved up, ready to claim a few kisses before moving on. However, Shireen moved at the same time, digging through his drawer and pulling out a condom. He laughed when she threw it at him. “You’re going to need that,” she said, smirking at him. “Because I think there’s still something that both of us want.”

There wasn’t screaming like Rickon had expected. He did get to pin her up against the wall and fuck her, though. Shireen simply didn’t seem to have the lungs necessary to do any type of screaming. He could hear every one of her breaths coming fast in his ear as he thrust into her, his fingers digging into her thighs so he could hold her up. It didn’t take much to convince her to let him do all the work, though, and Rickon gladly used up all his energy making love to her.

She did say his name, though. It came spilling from her lips, breathy and soft as her hands gripped into his hair and across his back. He kept his pace as much as possible, only pausing to lift her into position again, keeping her trapped between the wall and his chest. She was a pleasant, warm weight against him, and their bodies were soon slick with sweat from the proximity of one another in the relatively small room. His thrusts became more erratic, and he tried his best to keep tempo, murmuring out, “Are you… are you…?”

Shireen shushed him with a kiss, pulling him tight to her mouth, her tongue questing over his. She let it drag on until he was only just holding himself back. Then, she smiled at him. “I’m fine,” she said, her fingers twisting the curls of his hair. “Just finish, sweetie.”

He did, shuddering into her shoulder, as she held him against her. Rickon could feel his legs wobbling from the weight and exhaustion of what had just happened. He had been building up the idea of what it would be like to have sex with her for so long, and he was absolutely elated knowing that it had all been better than what he imagined. Slowly, he lifted a hand to sweep the hair from her brow, but he stumbled slightly in the process, blindly reaching out and steadying himself on the dresser.

He felt Shireen start shaking in his arms, and it was only when he looked back at her did he realize she was laughing at him. He gave her a sheepish smile, trying to balance himself on his feet again. “You wore me out,” he said.

“I’m sorry, sweetie,” she said, running her hands through his hair. Then, she looked him in the eyes and winked at him. “Just take three steps backwards.”

With a deep breath, Rickon held tightly onto Shireen before taking the steps. The first two went as planned, but on the third he hit the bed and fell backwards onto it. Shireen turned into a bubble of laughter, falling over him and pinning him to the bed. She had a massive grin on her face, her hair thoroughly ruined from their little tryst. Her hand reached into it, pulling it away from her face before she leaned down and kissed him again. Rickon stretched up into the kiss, meeting her mouth fully. Shireen hummed against him before pulling away.

“I suppose we should shower now,” she said, clasping her hands together and reaching up high.

Rickon placed a hand on her waist, rubbing his thumb over her ribs. “Not unless you want to do that again,” he said slowly.

Shireen let out a loud laugh, climbing off the bed and twisting her body around. “I don’t know, dear,” she said. She winked at him again. “I think I wore you out.”

Rickon chuckled, watching her wander into the bathroom. She was only slightly clumsier than usual, so Rickon resolved to keep her going next time. If he was going to be ready to sleep after, then he wanted to get her the same way. Still, he went into the kitchen first, pouring two glasses of water. Then, he went in the bathroom, finding Shireen sitting in the bathtub. When she saw him, she let out a small squeal, covering herself.

“I’m naked,” she whispered.

“Yeah, me too,” Rickon said. He handed her a glass. “I was kinda the one who took your clothes off, but you were starting to sound really thirsty.”

Taking the water, Shireen drank from it deeply, finishing off the glass in a few gulps. After Rickon returned the glasses, he joined her in the tub, sitting behind her as the water filled up around them. Shireen turned into his chest, dozing off slightly while he scrubbed them clean. She helped some, mostly with his hair, though she also requested that they just sleep in the bathtub. Rickon refused, making her drain the water and handing her a towel to dry off with.

At the end of it all, they just got in bed naked. Their wet hair mingling on his pillows when he curled up into her, though there were more than a few compromising positions throughout the night that almost made Rickon forego his exhaustion to be _in_ her again. Shireen slept peacefully, though, and Rickon would never dare to disturb her rest for his own pleasure, so he simply watched her, drawing patterns over her skin with his fingers. Slowly, the lull of her breathing took him over, leading his way into sleep.

\--

Rickon thoroughly enjoyed the next few days with Shireen. If anything, she was just as eager to be with him as he was with her. They lost quite a bit of sleep, but they still woke up smiling. Each morning was a lazy drag through the apartment: the both of them tired from the previous night’s activities as they wandered around getting ready for their day.

Shireen was working more hours now, and she’d often leave at the same time as him. A few days a week, they’d carpool together, Shireen dropping off Rickon in the morning, meeting him for lunch, and picking him up to go home. Rickon loved this setup. Having Shireen more present in his life was wonderful, especially when it meant he could doze off against her shoulder while they commuted.

Their weekends were even better. Rickon nearly always woke with Shireen in his arms, cuddled up against her warm body. The few times he didn’t, she was always nearby, bringing them water and breakfast. A few times, she was just further away in the bed, tracing her hands over his stomach and hips.

Rickon grinned at her, watching her fingers get closer and closer without actually touching anything. Still, he kept quiet, watching her play. She was sprawled across his legs, her breasts squished up against them, with her head resting on his thigh. On one particularly close sweep of her hands, she ran her nails back toward his hips. Rickon let out a groan, and Shireen’s eyes flicked up to his.

“You’re awake,” she said. Shireen didn’t move. She just continued moving her hands slowly over his body.

“And you’re torturing me,” Rickon replied. “Can you just come over here so I can kiss you?”

Shireen feigned thought. Then, she rested more securely against his legs, trapping him in place. Her fingers continued gently swooping over his hips. She kissed his hip, drawing forth another groan. “Nope,” she said lightly. “I’m good here.”

“Fucking hells, woman,” Rickon muttered. He feebly moved up to his elbows, trying to sit up and reach her.

Shireen, however, pressed a hand flat against his abs, holding him down. “I’m comfortable here,” she insisted. “And I won’t have you moving me.”

With a deep sigh, Rickon fell back into the pillows, watching his girlfriend slowly tease him as the morning drew on. Light slowly crept into the room, and Rickon woke up more and more as Shireen started to fall asleep again. Even though he became thoroughly trapped under her dead weight, Rickon found himself happier on that morning than he had ever been before.


	8. Chapter 8

Rickon was running late on his way home from work. He’d somehow got slogged into picking up someone’s work because the offices were downsizing, and the extra hours, while nice on the paycheck, were not nice to actually stay for. Staying later also meant driving home through the heavy evening traffic. Even on his motorcycle, Rickon had a hard time weaving around everyone to make it home. It was still bright out, though getting less so, when Rickon finally pulled into his parking space behind Shireen’s car. He dug his phone out of his pocket, knowing that it had been ringing nearly nonstop for half his ride home. Climbing the steps, Rickon scrolled through the recent calls list, seeing the same contact several times over. It was one of his former coworkers. He shook his head lightly, preparing to call them back when his phone started ringing again.

Answering the call, Rickon also began shuffling through his keys. “Hey,” he said.

“Dude, you have to get over here right now,” was the immediate response.

Shoving the key into the lock, Rickon let himself into the apartment. “Nice to hear from you, too, Pod. Haven’t heard from you in months. How are you doing?”

“Formalities later,” he insisted. Rickon rolled his eyes. He knew exactly the kind of person Podrick Payne was: a introverted, nerdy kid (who wasn’t really a kid anymore) that still went over the top when geeking out about games.

“I just got home from work,” Rickon replied. He glanced up to see Shireen walking over to him. She wrapped her arms around him and looked up, ready for a kiss that Rickon willingly gave. He hugged her back with one arm, deepening the kiss just slightly and hoping that Podrick wouldn’t notice.

“Okay, gross. Did you actually just kiss someone?” Podrick asked. Rickon could hear the teasing laughter coming from the line, but he chose to ignore it.

“Fuck off,” Rickon said sharply, leaning into Shireen and kissing the top of her head as well. “And if you’re going to demand my presence, at least give me a reason.”

There was a small pause, during which Rickon followed Shireen into the kitchen. She gestured toward a pizza box on the counter, and Rickon almost laughed. Of course, she had been too tired to actually make dinner today. He was in the same boat. With a grin in his direction, Shireen held up a slice of pizza to his mouth, and he took a bite. He kissed her again while his mouth was full: a closed-mouth peck to show his gratitude. Chewing through the mixed flavors of the pineapple pizza, Rickon clearly missed whatever Podrick was telling him.

“Dude, you’re not even listening,” Podrick said. He sounded amused more than irritated. “Please tell me that you are not trying to get laid while I’m on the line.”

“I’m eating,” Rickon mumbled through his mouthful of food. Quickly, he swallowed the bite. “Excuse me for being hungry after work.”

Shireen held the slice up to him again, but he shook his head lightly, gesturing to the phone. Shireen nodded, pressing up on her toes to kiss his cheek before drifting toward the couch.

“Do I have your attention now, Rickon?” Podrick asked.

“What is it, Pod?”

“ _Destiny_ ,” Podrick said slowly. “Early copies. In store. Right now. Now get your ass over here.”

“Fine,” Rickon said, a small bundle of excitement building in his chest. He’d spent a long while anticipating this game’s release. He was lucky enough to have Podrick keep him updated on releases. Podrick also still gave him discounts, which was a plus. “Let me actually eat, and then I’ll be over.”

“Hurry up,” Podrick said, hanging up the call.

Rickon returned to his pizza, putting a couple slices on a plate and going over to sit next to Shireen on the couch. She curled into him immediately, stealing some of the pineapples off his pizza. Popping them into her mouth, Rickon watched her jaw work to chew them. He wrapped an arm around her, tucking her into his side and eating with one hand. He was almost finished when Shireen asked, “Who was that?”

“One of my old coworkers,” Rickon said, finishing up his last bit of pizza. He tossed the plate onto the coffee table. Then, he turned into Shireen, letting her settle over his stomach. “Apparently a new game is coming out and he snagged me an early copy, so I’ll probably work through this exhaustion to go pick it up.”

Shireen hummed, tracing her fingers over his chest. Her breathing was steady against him, and he felt the lull of it drawing him closer to sleep, despite his plans to leave soon. “I could drive,” Shireen said. “If you don’t mind me tagging along.”

With a light groan, Rickon ran his arms up and down her back, dragging her shirt up so he could feel the smooth skin of her back. “That would be great,” he said. When he looked back down at her, she was smiling up at him. Then, she kissed his chest before sitting up. He was sad to feel the loss of her, but he sat up, too. For good measure, he leaned over and kissed her again. “Shall we?”

With their hands held together, Shireen led him back down to the parking area where he dutifully moved his motorcycle to free her car. After they were settled in, Rickon leaned over the armrest and kissed her cheek. A lazy hand went into his hair, ruffling it slightly and holding him loosely against her arm. Settling against her, Rickon gave directions on getting to his former work place. Shireen drove them over, finally parking under a streetlight that had just turned on.

“You worked at The Puzzle Place?” Shireen asked, craning her neck over the steering wheel to see the familiar sign. “I used to love coming here.”

Rickon laughed, stretching in his seat. “Yup. I used to work here in high school and just after I moved out,” Rickon said. “Hard times for me… I almost got fired a ton.”

With a shake of her head, Shireen left the car and Rickon met her in front of the car, taking her hand and walking with her into the store. The bright lights inside only served to emphasize the vivid colors that were omnipresent over all the shelves. Shireen immediately went over to go look at something, and Rickon waved her off, saying something about finding his friend. Shoving his hands into his pockets, Rickon walked over to the back of the store, ignoring the “Employees Only” sign on a door and walking in.

“Rickon, finally!” Podrick swiveled around in his chair, standing up and pulling Rickon into a hug. Then, he rummaged through the desk behind him, pulling out a new copy of a game. “Same rules, bro: tell no one, don’t go online until two days after release, and pay me up front and I’ll run it through the system later.”

Digging some cash out of his pocket, Rickon shoved it in his friend’s hand. It would have felt a lot like a drug deal had he not done this several times in his past. By now, it was routine for them, helping each other out whenever they could. After the exchange, Podrick put the game in a plain paper bag and carried it around, leading Rickon back into the main area of the store.

“So who’s the girl you were making out with?” Podrick asked, elbowing Rickon in the ribs. “You were having a nice dinner with her…”

“She’s my girlfriend,” Rickon said simply, walking slowly through the aisles, genuinely interested in what the store still had in stock. He rounded the corner and crashed into another of his old coworkers.

“Rickon has a girlfriend?” she asked loudly, not even bothering with introductions. “Rickon Stark has a girlfriend? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Language!” Podrick reprimanded. “There might be children present.”

Rickon rolled his eyes. He really should have expected this kind of response. Soon, the entire staff of the store was around him, crowding him over with the same exclamation. Ignoring them, Rickon wandered through the store, hoping the crowd would dissipate before he ran into Shireen again.

“Okay, but seriously,” Podrick said loudly, making everyone quiet down. “How serious is it?”

“You might be the manager now,” Rickon said. “But you are not my boss, and I do not have to answer that.”

“Come on, Rickon!” someone called. “After you never dated anyone, you come back with this?”

Pressing on, Rickon ignored them. He rounded a corner, seeing Shireen down the aisle. She smiled his way, waving a hand at him and walking over. Rushing forward, Rickon ignored his coworkers to meet with Shireen. She grabbed onto his hand, squeezing it tight.

“Um, are you sure the store is open?”” Shireen asked, glancing around. “This place is weirdly empty.”

Holding back a laugh, Rickon remembered all the forgotten business practices that happened when his coworkers got distracted. Right now, he expected that they were all hiding around, spying on him. “Yeah, it’s still open,” Rickon said. “Those idiots just can’t do their jobs right.”

Shireen gave him a slightly reprimanding look, but it was quickly forgotten when a loud, “Can I help you with anything?” came from behind him. Shireen jumped, letting out a small squeak and moving closer to Rickon in her fright. Rickon nearly laughed at the idea of anyone being scared of someone in that stupid blue and red uniform. Still Podrick looked oddly menacing in the absolute silence of the store. There was a small smile on Podrick’s face that Rickon suspected was mostly from seeing Shireen.

“Fucker,” Rickon muttered, swiping a hand over Shireen’s side to soothe her.

“I don’t think we have that in stock, actually,” Podrick replied, walking around. His eyes never left Shireen, though. Rickon felt her move closer into him, her hair falling over her face.

Rickon shook his head. “Yeah, you do,” he said. “Now would you stop that?”

“You have to introduce me first,” Podrick mock-whispered in returned.

With a heavy sigh, Rickon turned to Shireen, gently easing her away from him. “This is Podrick,” Rickon told her. “One of my former coworkers and soon-to-be former friend if he keeps scaring my girlfriend.”

Podrick took the hint, shrugging out of the formal stance and offering a hand to Shireen. “A pleasure,” he said.

“Pod, this is Shireen,” Rickon finished, watching them shake hands slowly.

“Okay, she’s pretty cute,” someone said loudly. This was quickly followed by someone else saying, “Is she why you dumped me?”

“Assholes,” Rickon muttered under his breath. Shireen turned toward the sound just as the remainder of his former coworkers spilled into the aisle, obviously giving Shireen some sort of appraisal. Shireen shrunk into his side. After a pointed glare at Podrick, the manager forced everyone back to work, letting Shireen ease back to normal.

“Yes, your Rickon here was quite the charmer with the ladies,” Podrick said, watching Shireen looking around. “Although, have it on my word that he was never serious about any of them for some reason. Tell me, how long have you been dating him?”

“You don’t have to answer that,” Rickon said, pulling Shireen away from Podrick. Shireen went willingly, laughing now.

She poked him in the chest and looked up at him. “Don’t want me knowing about your past life?” she asked.

Rickon turned into her, kissing her hair. “My past life is irrelevant,” he said. “Especially when I’ve got you now.”

Shireen flushed a pretty shade of red, and he kissed her on the cheek. “So you used to wear that uniform, too?” she asked, walking at his side and linking her arm around his.

Podrick laughed. “Oh yeah,” he said. “I think I’ve still got pictures somewhere if you want to see them…”

Doing his best to ignore Podrick trying to spill details of his life to Shireen, Rickon wandered the store, letting Shireen pull him around. Shireen was laughing mostly, squeezing his arm tighter as they went on. A few times, Rickon caught some of his former coworkers staring and he glared at them until they ran off. Podrick was recounting a story of how Rickon almost got fired for playing games with kids instead of trying to sell them things, and Shireen was laughing hard, looking to him with a bright smile.

“Not sure how we actually made money off that, but at least this fucker was safe for the time being,” Podrick finished, taking them to the front registers. “So are you off for the night now?”

“Oh yeah,” Rickon said. “I’m sick of dealing with these spying assholes while I’m tired.” He glanced around, watching one of the cashiers turn away from them and pretend to be busy. He shook his head.

“Sounds good,” Podrick said. “Feel free to stop by if you ever need anything. And it was a pleasure to meet you, Shireen.”

“Um, thanks,” Shireen said, giving him a short glance before moving into Rickon. “You, too.”

With that, Rickon waved goodbye and left the store, pulling Shireen after him. They walked together through the dark parking lot, and Rickon stole the keys from Shireen’s pocket. He took her to the passenger’s side and helped her in before crossing the car and getting in himself. They were almost back to the apartment with Shireen mumbled out, “Um, you don’t think he was making fun of me, do you?”

Rickon nearly snorted through his laughter. “Oh no,” he said firmly. “He was definitely making fun of me.”

“Why?” Shireen asked.

Biting his lip, Rickon thought through how much of his former life he wanted Shireen to know about. However, not letting her know seemed like lying somehow. He went with the full truth. “I worked there for a long time,” he started slowly. “And I’ve known him for a long time. Back then… I didn’t really date anyone. I mean, I had girlfriends, I guess, but nothing lasted. It didn’t mean anything to me, and all those relationships fizzled out. Podrick started joking that I was going to die alone because I wasn’t capable of having a serious relationship.”

Shireen was silent for a moment, looking at him fully. “Is he still right?”

“What do you think?” Rickon asked back, parking the car and looking back at her.

“I think you might actually like me,” Shireen mumbled out.

Rickon chuckled. “Close,” he said. Seeing Shireen’s curious expression, he leaned into her, pressing their foreheads together. His hand raised up to skim her cheek, putting her even closer to him. Then, he added on, “I _definitely_ like you, Shireen.”

\--

There was a bundle of nerves running through Rickon. He wasn’t sure if he had ever felt this nervous before, and he was surprised at how calm Shireen seemed. They were over at her uncle’s house for some sort of party going on. Honestly, Rickon had only harbored hopes of meeting Shireen’s family in the distant future. He didn’t think that it would be happening _this weekend_ , only three months after they started dating. Still, she looked really pretty in her yellow sundress, and she was pulling him around the house, introducing him to everyone.

The only person who looked more out-of-place than him was probably her father. Rickon recognized him from their brief meeting three months ago. It was right after Shireen officially moved out. And right before they started dating. Rickon swallowed, glancing over at her father who was here alone. He looked ridiculously uncomfortable in some pastel polo shirt that Rickon was positive he didn’t actually own.

Breathing out a massive sigh, he turned as Shireen walked up to him. She was somehow barefoot now, and she had an amused expression on her face. Her hands automatically went to his, squeezing them gently and pulling him into a hug. She grinned up at him. “Do you want to tell me why you brought macaroni and cheese?” she asked.

“You said it was a potluck,” Rickon responded. “Doesn’t that mean I have to bring something?”

“Sweetie, my family caters potlucks,” Shireen said, shaking her head at him.

Rickon shrugged, glancing over at the elaborate set-up with all the food. Sure enough, several platters of food were spread out, and his macaroni had been shoved into the corner. He smiled to himself, thinking that his mom did the same thing, even when she knew he was going to bring macaroni like he always did. After Arya had slipped up and told him that a container made a nice dish, he bought one fancy container for his macaroni and never looked back.

“Well then, maybe you shouldn’t call them potlucks,” Rickon said, tapping her on the nose. 

Shireen giggled, taking him through the party and introducing him to the Baratheons in attendance. He met two of her cousins, her uncle and his boyfriend, her father (formally), and she listed off the people who didn’t bother coming anymore. Apparently, her uncle Renly liked to start parties small and end them big, so more people would be showing up later. For now, Rickon just had to remember the few Baratheons and company. Rickon kept repeating the names to himself so he wouldn’t forget them: Myrcella, Tommen, Renly, Loras, and Stannis.

Myrcella came up to him, giggling madly. He tried not to give her a strange look in return and waited for her to get his attention, which she eventually did by tapping him on the shoulder.

“You know, you look ridiculously similar to your brother,” she said. “How is Robb?”

“Engaged, actually,” Rickon said, using the drink in his hand to gesticulate. He didn’t know how much information was too much to tell, so he stopped himself there.

“Good for him!” Myrcella replied. “We used to date way back when, and he was like an actual Disney prince. I’m glad he found someone.” The sat near each other in silence until Myrcella broke it again. “I really hope you’re treating Shireen right. She hasn’t really been dating lately…”

“I do, too,” Rickon admitted. “Sometimes, I feel like whatever I do isn’t enough for her.”

“I’m sure she thinks you’re a prince, too,” Myrcella said, nudging him on the shoulder.

Rickon gave her a smile before seeking out Shireen. She was bouncing around her uncle’s boyfriend, stopping him from going wherever he wanted to go. Finally, he broke free, and Shireen fell into a fit of laughter.

“Okay, who brought the macaroni?” someone called loudly. Rickon turned to see Renly spooning some onto his plate of finger foods. Renly took a bite, and Shireen tugged on Rickon’s fingers, drawing his attention back to her. She was grinning at him and laughing when Renly exclaimed, “OH, MOTHER HAVE MERCY! IT’S DELICIOUS. WHOEVER MADE THIS NEEDS TO MARRY ME.”

Shireen shook her head at her uncle. Then, she leaned into Rickon and said, “It appears you have a fan.”

“And you have competition,” Myrcella said. She avoided Shireen’s glare by taking a drink.

Rickon reached for Shireen’s waist and pulled her into his lap. “It’s no competition,” he mumbled into her ear. “Because I will always choose you.”

Her face flushed red, and she was looking at him intently when her uncle appeared at her shoulder. He had filled his plate with macaroni, eating it wholeheartedly. “Shireen,” he said. “I am so happy that you are dating someone who can cook. Now, be a doll and steal the recipe for me.”

Shireen rounded on her uncle. “And how do you know it was him?”

Renly rolled his eyes. He swatted away the fork Loras held, keeping the macaroni safe from his boyfriend. “No one ever brings foods to my mixers,” he said. “Calling it a potluck doesn’t even help.”

“Well, half of your guests are usually too drunk to remember the food afterward anyway,” Myrcella said. She took another swig of her drink. “I blame Loras’s excellent bartending techniques.”

Behind Renly, Loras grinned, distracted from his mission of macaroni theft. “I can mix you another,” he offered. “What would you like? Something light and fruity? We’ve got plenty of options.”

Myrcella hooked her arm around Loras’s, leading the two of them back to the kitchen. Renly shook his head at his boyfriend before turning back to Rickon. “Please, enlighten me with this fabulous macaroni and cheese recipe.”

Rickon laughed, too embarrassed to admit that he just used whatever cheeses he had in the fridge and a basic recipe from the internet. “Sorry,” he said instead. Rickon tightened an arm around Shireen. “I’ve gotta keep her somehow.”

Across the lawn, Rickon caught the eye of Stannis, sending small glares his way. Rickon swallowed, looking away. He was determined not to be afraid of Shireen’s father, but he wasn’t exactly keen on having a one-on-one conversation with the man. Renly caught the look and waved a hand through the air. “Ignore him,” he suggested. “He’ll have to come to terms eventually. I mean, it’s not like you’re living together!”

Choking on his drink, Rickon watched Shireen’s face turn bright red. He did his best to stop the carbonation from his soda hit his sinus cavity, but he could feel the tingling sensation in his face. Shireen, however, leaned over and smacked her uncle.

“Renly!” she said. “You’re going to put ideas into his head!”

Renly shrugged, apparently sensing that nothing was wrong. “I mean, as long as he puts a ring on that finger.”

Shireen hit him again, and Renly laughed, taking a deep drink when it was safe. Keeping her composure, Shireen led Rickon back into the house and into a sitting room. It was blessedly empty, save for the plush armchairs that surrounded a low coffee table. Shireen slumped into one, and Rickon was considering telling her how much she actually looked like a princess. Instead, something else was gnawing at the back of his mind.

“You didn’t tell them about me?” he asked.

“I told them about you,” Shireen insisted. “I mean, they know we’re dating and stuff. They just don’t know about the living together stuff…”

Rickon tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. “So I shouldn’t mention it?” he asked. Slowly, he lowered himself into the seat next to her. 

Letting out a huge sigh, Shireen turned to him. “My family is kind of old-fashioned,” she said. “They were slow enough when Renly and Loras got together. Although, I don’t even think they’re married…”

“Shireen,” Rickon said softly. He placed a hand gently on her leg, rubbing his fingers into the fabric of her dress. “I’m not going to tell them anything you don’t want them to know. Just tell me.”

Wincing slightly, Shireen averted her gaze. “Maybe don’t mention it?”

Rickon leaned forward to kiss her cheek. “As you wish,” he said. “But will you come home with me tonight? I promise to stay sober and drive us.”

“Didn’t you bring your motorcycle?” Shireen asked.

“I have a spare helmet.” There was a strange feeling mounting in his chest, and Rickon wasn’t sure what answer he should be hoping for.

After a long sigh, Shireen tucked herself into his side, wrapping her arms around him. “You’ll keep me safe?”

“I promise.”

“Okay then.”

Shireen looked up at him, kissing him soundly on the mouth. Shireen kept their kiss soft and chaste, obviously aware of where they were. Eventually, she led them back into the party, where even more guests had arrived. Renly kept giving them strange looks, and Rickon couldn’t tell if he thought they were making out or sneaking off for other reasons. Still, Rickon watched Shireen mingle. She shared a particularly giggly conversation with Myrcella, during which she glanced over to him quite a few times. He tried mingling himself, falling in and out of circles quickly, finding drunk people harder to tolerate when he knew they didn’t know what a potluck was.

Rickon was glad to see that Robb had come along with Margaery, and he had apparently insisted that they bring a dish as well. Though, Robb probably didn’t bring macaroni. Rickon greeted his brother, and Shireen appeared at Margaery’s ear, whispering into it. The two girls disappeared, returning with Myrcella in tow, and causing Robb to look particularly horrified. Rickon gave Robb a large pat on the back as Myrcella offered her congratulations. Shireen then hugged him tight around the middle.

“So I hear you’re a prince,” she said slowly, raising her voice to be heard over the music that was pumping through the party.

“I think that depends on who you’re asking,” he replied, letting his hands settle on her hips.

“Well, what would you do if a girl wanted to get home before midnight?” she asked.

Rickon feigned thought, pressing her closer to him. “Well, I have a few ideas,” he said. He leaned down and swept her into his arms. Then, he kissed her cheek and carried her away from the growing crowd of the party. “Though you should know I only take princesses home.”

Shireen’s face fell. “Rickon, I’m not—”

“I’d beg to differ,” Rickon said, kissing her on the lips this time. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have a beautiful princess that I’d like to warm my bed tonight. Do you think she’ll be interested?”

A smile grew on Shireen’s face before she dipped her head and replied, “I don’t think she’d raise too many objections.”

“Just what I wanted to hear,” Rickon said. He handed her a helmet, helping her put it on, and giving her brief directions on how to accompany him on the motorcycle. She listened carefully, nodding along, though when the time came to ride, she was squeezing him much harder than necessary. Rickon was positive that her helmet was filled with her squeals and exclamations. Even though the road was clear and he drove safely, Shireen’s grip never lessened. Rickon had a strong suspicion that it wasn’t fear that was keeping her glued to him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this one got a little steamy.

Shireen still wasn’t entire sure why it was essential that Sansa pick her up at five in the morning for the day. She honestly thought that bachelorette parties were supposed to start in the evening and end in the morning, but apparently Sansa had different plans. Rickon woke up with her that morning, dragging her back into bed a few times with lazy kisses and heated touches. Eventually, he let her prepare for the day, though he hugged her tight while they waited on the couch for his eldest sister.

“Promise me you won’t go after some stripper?” he asked.

Shireen laughed, shaking herself awake. “Only if you promise the same for Robb’s bachelor party.”

“You say that like a stripper could be more attractive than you,” Rickon responded. He leaned into her neck, kissing and sucking on it gently before she hit him away. They spent the next few minutes together cuddling on his couch until a soft, light knock came from the door. Rickon groaned, hugging her tighter and kissing her deeply before seeing her off for the day.

They picked up Arya next, and she looked immensely peeved at her sister for demanding that they be up so early. Arya immediately settled into the back seat, tucking herself into the side for the rest of the ride. Next, Margaery joined the party. She looked prepared for the day ahead, already dressed up and bouncing on her feet. Shireen shuffled to the backseat, allowing Margaery the passenger’s.

“Please, _please_ tell me that there’s a good reason you had us pack a nice dress,” Margaery demanded, buckling up her seatbelt. She turned toward Sansa, giving her a giant, dazzling smile.

“Marg, I would like to remind you that you are an engaged woman,” Sansa said firmly. “And if I even had a date to your wedding, I wouldn’t be considering this.”

Margaery groaned. “Glad to know I get strippers because you’re single, Sans,” Margaery said, flipping her hair over her shoulder and looking forward. “But is it all day strippers? What’s the deal with this wake up time?”

“Marg,” Sansa said firmly, steering her way through the city and onto a highway. “If I tell you everything now, the whole point of you asking for a surprise bachelorette party goes out the window.” 

Arya snorted in her half-dazed sleep. “I’m surprised she hasn’t figured it out already. Didn’t you tell Loras?”

Margaery gasped loudly, pulling out her phone immediately. Sansa was telling off Arya, while trying to tell Shireen to take away Margaery’s phone. There was a small amount of chaos in the car while they sorted themselves out: four grown women fighting and trying to settle themselves again. Shireen was glad that the roads were empty this early because Sansa’s attention was clearly elsewhere. She eventually settled for politely asking and holding out a hand for the phone in question. 

Margaery sighed loudly and handed the phone over. “Honestly, Shireen, does Rickon ever get anything he wants?” she asked, turning in her seat. “I bet you just flash those puppy-dog eyes of yours and he’ll give you anything.”

Immediately, the sisters Stark started howling with laughter. “Gods, Marg,” Arya said, wiping at her eyes. “You should have seen Rickon at nine. I swear he was practicing that sad puppy look. Mom couldn’t resist for sure.”

Sansa was nodding along in agreement. “She and Dad had to sit the entire family down, and we agreed to not give him anything unless he asked for it normally.”

Shireen felt a strange swallow in her chest, remembering Rickon’s confessions to her their second night together. He had thought they were all intentionally ignoring him, and they were, just for different reasons. “Oh,” she breathed out.

Everyone glanced over to her, eyebrows raised. Arya shook her leg slightly, giving her a look.

“He just thought you were all ignoring him,” Shireen mumbled. “And that he wasn’t going to get attention from you guys ever again…”

“Fuck,” Margaery breathed out. “You guys really screwed up. Though, Rickon must really like you to tell you something that deep.”

Shireen looked down into her lap, remembering the other parts of the night. All their small confessions building up to Rickon’s offer of living with him… Her heart skipped a beat, remembering how he looked when he told her that he thought he was in love with her. She sighed, trying to shake the image for her mind.

“If you don’t tell us what that is about, I will have Sansa stop this car right now,” Margaery threatened.

“It’s nothing,” Shireen breathed out. She shook her head again, trying to think through everything. When she looked back up, the three women were all giving her the same stare and Sansa had indeed pulled over. Shireen took a deep breath. She decided to press on through the expected outburst. “He may have maybe said that he loved me _BUT_ that was quite some time ago, and he hasn’t said it since.”

The outburst had indeed happened, but they were dead quiet by the end of it. Then, Sansa said, “Well, did you say it back?”

“I couldn’t!” Shireen said. Her voice was much higher than she expected. “I mean, I… I might… but at the time, we weren’t even dating… I dunno… I just feel like he’d have done it again by now.”

“Sweetheart, he’s scared you don’t feel the same way,” Margaery said softly. She signaled for Sansa to keep driving. “Poor guy probably thinks he’s scared you from committing.”

Arya scoffed. “Please, Gendry probably mentioned it three hundred times before I said anything back,” she said. “It’s no problem. He’ll keep fighting for you if he wants you.”

“Gendry just knew you were too thick to understand that he meant it,” Sansa corrected. “Ignore her, Shireen. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

They eventually dropped the topic, but it kept eating away at the back of Shireen’s mind. Rickon definitely liked her. He was still with her, he still wanted her, they were still together, and they were happy. And she definitely liked him, too. But what if he changed his mind about being in love with her? What if that was a gut feeling that dissipated?

With a twisted sensation roiling through her stomach, Shireen tried to throw herself into the day’s activities. She tried to ignore the thoughts of Rickon, focusing on the bachelorette of the party and pushing Rickon back in her mind. They ended up spending the day at a spa, being doted on and cleaned up. Shireen felt her mind clearing with the activities of the day, allowing the cleanliness to clean her as well.

By the time they were all dolled up and actually at a strip club, Shireen had come to an agreement with herself that as long as she and Rickon were happy, it didn’t matter if there were any confessions of love. Still, being surrounded by the flippant lust and half-naked men obviously attempting to garner some kind of response, Shireen felt far less than faithful. It wasn’t until one of the men started to get far too close to her that she fled to the balcony.

Leaning against the railing, Shireen let the cool nighttime air sweep over her and cool her down. Brushing her hair out of her face, Shireen prepared to head back inside when she started to hear people talking about her scars. They weren’t even trying to be subtle about it, and Shireen could feel the confidence that her dress and heels once provided slipping away. She desperately wished she looked like Sansa or Margaery: a classically beautiful woman who could break hearts and take names. Hells, even Arya was a sight tonight, commanding and gorgeous after being done up by her sister.

Shireen slunk further away from the club, away from the voices of the people talking about her. With slightly trembling fingers and a shiver running down her spine, she called up Rickon.

“Hello, dear,” he greeted. “How goes the bachelorette party?”

“We ended up at a strip club,” Shireen confessed. “And I’ve decided that I hate them.”

“While I am inclined to agree with you, can I ask why?” he asked. Shireen could hear him settling onto his couch, slumping down against the armrest. She smiled at the thought, imagining being curled up into him.

“People here are assholes,” she mumbled out.

Rickon sighed, clicking his tongue. “You’re telling me the strippers are fucking blind and don’t realize that they’d be lucky to be dancing with my girl?” he asked. “I bet you look really hot, too…”

“Not really,” Shireen mumbled. Regardless about how she was feeling, his words and exclamation of _my girl_ was making her smile.

“Then, tell me what you’re wearing,” Rickon said. “And give me something nice to think about.”

Shireen felt her stomach drop. She knew the implication of those words, and usually she’d back away. Still, she wasn’t feeling too hot right now, so she played along. “Just that one black dress and some heels…”

“Which dress, honey?” Rickon asked. “You’ve got a ton… not to mention your shoes.”

Scoffing, Shireen went on. She dug her fingers into the relatively loose fabric of it the skirt. “The short one… It’s got a kinda poofy skirt… and spaghetti straps…”

Rickon hummed his approval. “That is a good dress,” he said. “Some guys just want to see everything, but that dress lets me _feel_ everything. It’s just so easy to slide my hands under it and get you closer… And I bet you’re in the highest heels you own. All shiny and spiky-heeled… I’d like to see you in those again… Though, I’d appreciate it very much if you weren’t wearing anything else with them…”

Shireen’s face was definitely burning, and she fanned her face despite the cool air hitting her. She found a seat and fell onto it, crossing her legs. Her mouth went dry thinking over his words over and over again, finding new parts to latch on to and imagine. Her brain was caught up working overtime, and she was lost in this image of herself that he created.

Rickon groaned into the line, bringing her back to attention. “I’ll tell you what,” he said. “Why don’t you stroll back in there like the sexiest woman that I know you are, and you can go break everyone’s hearts by telling them that you’re _mine_ , and I promise I’ll give you a night you’ll never forget when you get back here?”

“So I’m yours, am I?” Shireen asked, trying to keep her voice steady despite the heat building between her legs.

“Fuck,” Rickon muttered out. “Only mine if you wanna be, but I’m definitely yours.”

“Oh, then you are _mine_ , Rickon Stark,” Shireen said back, trying her best to sound sexy. She licked her lips for good measure. “And I’ll have you begging for more.”

“You already do, babe,” Rickon said. “So don’t plan on sleeping when you get back.” Shireen felt her breath hitch, and she did everything she could to stop the sound from spilling through her lips. Rickon seemed to notice. “That’s a promise, honey. I hope you’re ready to take what’s yours.”

Shireen had a hard time hanging up on him after that, but Rickon seemed willing to talk her to orgasm, so she forced herself to end the call. Then, she cooled down a bit more before heading back in. Margaery was indeed being forced into the role as bachelorette, having been dragged up on stage where several men surrounded her. She made a bunch of faces for the cameras, playing along until the night was up. Shireen, however, was entirely distracted by the promises Rickon made. Her heart sped up just thinking about it, and she had a hard time considering her expressions normal. Surely, she had been drifting off into a daze just thinking about him.

\--

When they were finally dropped off at their respective homes after very little sleep, Shireen was glad to find that Rickon was still asleep in the early hours of the morning. She quietly dressed for bed and brushed her teeth before slipping silently into his bed. Without any hesitation, Rickon responded to the weight on the bed, turning into her and stroking his hands over her until she was fully settled over his chest. His shoulder was her pillow, and his hand bent up to settle on her waist. His other hand found hers pressed up against his sternum, and he moved it so he could kiss her knuckles before letting it fall again. Shireen squirmed against him, throwing her leg over his hips. After kissing his shoulder, she allowed herself to drift back to sleep, succumbing easily to the pull of the unconscious.

It felt like hours later that she was finally being roused by the wandering hands of her boyfriend. Rickon was exploring her body, slipping under her shirt and spanning her stomach before creeping up to feel the underside of her breasts. Shireen was now turned away from him, and her eyes went wide when he lightly pressed into her breasts, toying with her nipples. She let out a small sound.

Against her back, she could feel Rickon’s chest moving with laughter, and she bit her tongue. _Two could play at that game_. Pretending to stretch, Shireen managed to squirm out of her pajama shorts. Then, she adjusted herself, moving until she was pressed back into his hips and he let out a small groan. One of his hands went south, brushing over her hips to rest at the juncture of her thighs. While Shireen would usually give him purchase, she was determined to make him succumb first.

Feeling particularly enthused, Shireen pressed her ass into his hips, feeling him hardening against her. She repeated the motion slowly, shoving her breasts forward at the same time. Rickon’s hands responded: one of them squeezing the flesh of her breasts, while the other fought to get between her thighs. Shireen did her best to prevent him from reaching his goal until he muttered out a soft _Fuck_ and thrust his hips into her. Giggling, Shireen turned half-over, reaching up for his neck.

“You vixen,” Rickon mumbled. His hand was now off her thighs, and she briefly wondered where it went until he kissed her senseless. His tongue pressed into her mouth, searching out all he could in the relatively brief moment of it. He pulled away as his hand cupped her ass, kneading into it gently before something else pressed up against her. “Sneaking into bed… stripping while I’m distracted… looking too sexy to stop kissing…”

He kissed her again to prove his point, and his hips rocked into hers again. This time, she didn’t stop the moan from escaping her. She finally spread her legs, reaching down to position him between her thighs, but he pulled his hips away.

“We have condoms, honey,” he said, peppering kisses down the side of her face.

“Actually, you’re out,” Shireen said, continuing on. She remembering how often they dug into that drawer, and her surprise at seeing the box depleted after a couple months. Still, her mind was full of his words from last night, and she wanted him despite the increased risk. They were both clean, she knew, and she was still on the pill, she reminded him so, pressing on.

Rickon kissed her gently. “I can wait on that promise,” he offered. “If you want to be safe.”

Shireen flipped him onto his back, straddling his hips and making sure she was right on top of him. “You do not get to basically have phone sex with me and then shirk out on this,” she said firmly. Very deliberately, she rocked her hips over the length of him. “And I still need to make you _beg_.”

Soon enough, they were throwing all caution to the wind. Rickon was thrusting his hips forward, trying to slip into her, and Shireen was pulling away, teasing him until he was, indeed, begging for her. When they were finally together, Shireen moved around on top of him, grinding down onto his pelvis until her hips were locking and she was getting sore. Rickon eased her onto her back, letting her stretch out until he matched with her again, slowly pumping into her until she thought she was going to burst.

Rickon had proven to be a very different kind of partner. Shireen had grown so used to men getting themselves off and not caring about her that having someone so devoted to her pleasure was entirely unexpected, even after using up all their available condoms practicing. He was constantly kissing her, grinding into her until she moaned, and seeking out spots that made her shudder. When he finally started increasing his pace, Shireen thought she was going to explode from resting on the precipice for so long.

Still, Rickon pulled out before he finished, bending down to do her in with his tongue and fingers. Shireen was entirely at a loss, entirely at his command, as he worked her over, drawing out every feeling of pleasure he could until her back was arching off his bed in her orgasms. They rolled through her as he kept going, kept varying what he was doing to make each one new and different. A distant part of her brain thought that it was only possible because they’d spent so much time sleeping together to figure each other out.

When she collapsed back into his bed, Shireen felt her body even more exhausted than before, coated with a layer of sweat after such an ordeal, and buzzing with the pleasure that Rickon gave her. He was settled over her legs, his hands drawing patterns over her ribs. Occasionally, he’d kiss her stomach, sneaking glances up at her face.

“You’re really good at that,” she mumbled, wobbling on her elbows as she tried to sit up.

Rickon smirked at her. “Well, I’ve had a lot of practice.”

Shireen drew him up to her mouth, kissing him deeply before she started wandering down herself. She ignored his protests and silenced him by wrapping her hand over him, sliding her thumb through the wetness that accumulated on him. She teased him thoroughly before finally providing him some relief, and she was glad to have him, once more, completely and utterly at her mercy.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to [Barbs1989](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Barbs1989/pseuds/Barbs1989) for suggesting the prompt for this chapter, and to the lovely 13letters for unknowingly approving it.

There was too long a time that Shireen allowed to pass before restocking their supply of condoms. Really, she should have done so immediately given how often she and Rickon were intimate with each other. However, it slipped her mind to actually take precautions during those times. She was in for a rude awakening when a month passed and she was late. Now, she was seated on the bathroom floor, staring at the tiny piece of plastic that would tell her how much she fucked up this time.

She felt dizzy after staring at one spot for so long, and she felt like at any moment she would vomit. Quickly, she pushed the thought from her mind. Vomiting was what pregnant people did, and she was not pregnant. Shireen told herself this over and over again, hoping that if she truly believed it to be true, then it would be. However, when she looked back at that stupid piece of plastic, it was confirming her current fear.

“Bullshit,” she muttered to herself. Shireen ripped through the package, determined to prove this stupid pregnancy test wrong.

By the time she heard Rickon coming home from his long shift at work, she had gone through the entire package of pregnancy tests, and all of them were set in the positive. Breathing hard, Shireen tried to calm herself down before Rickon found her. She heard him walking through his apartment, entirely unaware of what awaited him.

“Shireen?” he called. He tapped on the door and it gave just a bit.

“Yeah, I’m in here,” she replied, her voice catching.

She watched the door creak open an inch. “Is everything okay?” he asked, only just looking in.

Shireen took a deep breath, standing up and forcing a smile onto her face. “Uh huh,” she said, and the door opened further. Rickon looked concerned despite her words to the contrary. He glanced around the room, obviously eyeing the pregnancy tests surrounding her. Before he could say anything, she choked out a small, “I’m pregnant.”

Then, she burst into tears. There was no way she was going to survive whatever this was. It was too soon, too early for her to even be considering having children. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She was smarter than this, and yet…

Rickon immediately smothered her in a hug, wrapping her tightly in his arms. She felt her body shaking and she hiccoughed loudly. He shushed her lightly, pulling her out of the bathroom and into his bedroom. She curled up on his lap, and he stroked her hair gently until she was calm again.

“Okay, first off,” he said slowly, glancing down at her and giving her a small smile. “Have you been to a doctor?”

Shireen shook her head gently.

“Then, we’ll do that first because I don’t exactly trust little pieces of plastic,” Rickon said firmly, squeezing her gently. He kissed the top of her head, tucking her under his chin.

“But what if I am pregnant?” she mumbled. “I’m not ready for… I don’t think I can…”

Rickon sighed, holding her tight and rocking them slightly. “At the end of the day, it’s your decision,” he said. “If you don’t want a baby, then you won’t have a baby, no matter how you decide to go about it. I’m here for you, okay?”

He gently pulled her hair away from her face, stroking his thumb gently over her cheek. Really, things could be worse. Rickon was extremely attentive and caring. She had no doubts that he’d make a good father; it was her own skills as a mother that terrified her. Shireen burrowed into his chest, clutching his shirt tightly in her fist. Carefully, she kissed his chest.

Rickon bowed his head down to kiss her forehead again. “Everywhere’s closed by now,” he said. “But we’ll go tomorrow, get some answers, and you will decide what you want to do, okay?”

“Um, can I… I need to go see someone first,” she mumbled out. If anything of this magnitude happened to her, she had to let Davos know. He had spent years taking care of her while her parents divorced, and she felt that he would definitely know what to do.

“Of course,” Rickon said softly. “Do you want me to drive you there?”

She nodded, stretching out of his arms and making herself presentable. It was late, she knew, but she wasn’t just going to sit on this herself. Davos would help her, just like he always did. Shireen dressed herself, following Rickon out into the warm summer night. He followed her directions, stopping outside a nice house with a few lights on. Shireen looked in. He always went to sleep late. He’d definitely still be up.

Shireen was only vaguely aware of Rickon’s presence in the car, and she snapped back to him when he grabbed her hand.

“Do you want me to wait for you out here?” he asked.

“No, you should come, too,” she muttered out. Their hands twisted together until their fingers were laced. She slumped down in her seat, too exhausted to even give him a smile. She felt like the world was crushing her, messing with her, and trying to tear her apart.

“Hey,” Rickon said softly, pulling her from her thoughts. “I’m not going to leave you, okay? I’ll be here for you.”

“Thank you,” Shireen mumbled, looking his way.

Rickon gave her a weak smile. “Can I have a kiss?” he asked softly.

Bracing herself on the armrest between them, Shireen leaned over and kissed Rickon. It was soft and gentle, devoid of the usual flare and fire of their kisses. Still, it made Shireen feel safer and she moved toward him gently. Rickon kissed her back, deepening the kiss just a bit before pulling away. He winked at her before looking past her toward the house. Taking a deep breath, Shireen braced herself to exit the car.

They walked together up to the front door, and Shireen rang the doorbell. Less than a minute later, Shireen was greeted with the familiar face of Davos. He looked even more weathered then before, his hair almost completely gray now. Davos was excited to see her, pulling her into a massive hug.

“Oh, my dear girl, how you’ve grown!” he said. Davos held her at arm’s length to assess her properly. Then, his eyes flicked over to Rickon. “And who’s this?”

Shireen cleared her throat, reaching back for Rickon’s hand. “This is my boyfriend Rickon,” she said, pulling him forward.

Rickon put on a nice smile, extending a hand to the man. “Rickon Stark,” he said, shaking Davos’s hand.

“Ah… I finally get to meet a boyfriend!” Davos exclaimed, ushering them inside. “I haven’t had that pleasure since you were dating one of my sons!”

“Davos!” Shireen looked over to Rickon, but he looked entirely amused. He stuck out his tongue at her and poked her side to nudge her inside. Rickon also leaned down and snuck a kiss to her cheek when Davos wasn’t looking. Shireen was positive that her face was burning.

Davos had completely ignored them, leading the way to the dining room and taking a seat at the table. He gestured for them to take seats of their own. Shireen did so, turning to face him directly. “So,” he started slowly. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Um.” Shireen glanced over to Rickon, trying to decide where to start. “Well, I might be pregnant…”

His eyebrows immediately shot upward. This was the moment Shireen feared: the moment where he either reprimanded her or helped her. He cleared his throat, leaning onto the table. “Would congratulations be in order?” he asked simply.

“Maybe?” Shireen said, twisting her hands around. “But, um, that is… we’re not entirely sure yet.”

“So you need to go to a doctor,” he said, rubbing a hand over his beard. “Figure things out first.”

“That’s what I told her,” Rickon said, placing a hand on her shoulder. He gave it a light squeeze.

Shireen’s eyes were downcast. She wasn’t prepared for this kind of support. She definitely wouldn’t have received it from her father or mother. Even her uncles and cousins would have been scandalized. Hell, she didn’t even want to tell them that she was living with Rickon. Yet, he and Davos were fully prepared to help her through this. Davos stretched across the table to take her hand.

“You’re going to be a great mother,” Davos said. “When you’re ready, of course. I remember how you took care of my little ones around the house. All the messes we had to clean!”

A smile found its way onto her face. Shireen glanced up at Davos. He was giving her a large smile in return, lost in his memories.

“Though, when you do have kids, can I just offer one piece of advice?” Davos sat forward in his seat, looking at her intently. Shireen felt Rickon’s hand slip down her back, resting around her waist and rubbing small circles there. A wave of calm washed over her and she nodded to Davos’s question. “Never give kids macaroni and cheese.”

Rickon choked on his breath, doubling over in laughter. He rested his head on the table, bracing himself as the glee shook through his body.

“I’m serious!” Davos said. He was talking at Rickon now. “Once you give kids macaroni, they never want to eat anything else! Shireen probably spent a month only eating it. Nearly gave my wife a heart attack; we tried so hard to get something else into her. I swear, when we caught her with an apple, we were relieved.”

Davos and Rickon were both grinning now, exchanging stories while Rickon told him all about how he’s been with Shireen. She smiled to herself, thinking that this is what having him meet her parents was supposed to be like. Not like the dreadful encounter with her father glaring at him the whole time, and Rickon looking ready to start a fight. He went through all the basics: they weren’t married, they were living together, it had been almost five months, he was happy, and she usually was, too. The only thing he didn’t tell Davos was about the one night stand. 

Her surrogate father wouldn’t let that one past him, though. “So where did you meet?”

“Uh,” Rickon stumbled, looking to Shireen for help.

She shook her head, smiling at him. “We met at a bar,” she said. “And he tried to defend my honor when some asshole insulted me.”

“Hey, you threw the first punch,” Rickon defended.

“And I would have thrown the last punch, too,” Shireen shot back, sticking her tongue out at him.

Davos just laughed, watching over the two of them. They’d been talking for nearly two hours now, and the night was setting in. However, their small corner of the world was just growing brighter as the stories passed. A few times, Davos went to retrieve something of Shireen’s from when she was younger, and Rickon just teased her about it, grinning at the many objects he had collected.

“Well, regardless of the situation,” Davos said slowly. “I know you’ll make the right decision for you, Shireen. And this young man looks willing to follow you to the ends of the earth if you’ll let him.”

“I really would,” Rickon said, all seriousness now. “She’s worth it.”

Nodding his approval, Davos turned to Shireen. “You’ve always been a smart girl. So stop worrying your head.”

Shireen heaved out a sigh, feeling immensely relieved. She stood up, walking out to the door. She knew when she was overstaying her welcome. “Thanks,” she said. “I’ll let you know what happens.”

“And let me know when the wedding is,” Davos called after them.

Rickon froze mid-step beside her, and she turned to shoot a glare at Davos. She placed both hands flat on Rickon’s back, shoving him in the direction of the car. He staggered along until they were buckled in, starting to head back home.

“So I almost told him about my brother’s wedding when he said that,” Rickon mumbled, breaking the silence.

Shireen shook her head again, crossing her arms. “I swear, I think all parents try to shove it on their children at some point,” she said. “But we should really deal with one problem at a time.”

“Would marriage be a problem?” Rickon asked. “I mean, it might make you feel better about things… if they happen.”

“One problem at a time, Rickon,” Shireen said firmly. “And it hasn’t even been that long… Should we really be talking about marriage?”

Rickon shrugged. “We are going to a wedding next month.”

“That’s different.”

“Whatever you say, dear.”

\--

Shireen had never been particularly nervous in doctors’ offices. Even now, when she was expecting not-so-great news, she was calm, waiting for the results that could drastically change her life. Instead of thinking about her own problems, she watched Rickon wander the small room. He had asked to come with her and provide moral support, so he was in the room rummaging through all the loose cupboards.

“These are seriously just popsicle sticks,” he said, flipping a lid back onto a jar.

“Rickon, stop messing around with their things,” Shireen told him. He gave her a small frown before putting it back. An image of a much younger Rickon filled her mind, and for the first time, she allowed herself to think about what it would actually be like to raise children. Surely, any child that shared DNA with Rickon would be just as wild: with his massive attention problems and need to be physically active. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, changing the rhythm of their lives. But they were still living in a one-bedroom apartment, unmarried, and too young.

A small knock on the door made her jump, and Rickon eased a hand onto her back. The doctor eased his way back into the room, giving her a once-over. “Well, Miss Baratheon, should I just come out with the results?”

“Yes, please,” Shireen said. She felt Rickon’s hand slide into hers, and his other went around her waist. She squeezed his fingers, feeling her heartbeat speeding up.

“You are not pregnant,” the doctor said firmly. “And you are perfectly healthy otherwise. But there is no baby on the way. If you’d like, I can refer you to a family planning consultant.”

“No, that’s okay,” Shireen said quickly, a wave of calm passing over her. Finally, she felt like she was back in control of her life. It was a relief, like she could breathe deeply again. “I just wanted to know is all…”

“Of course,” the doctor said. “I’ll let you see yourselves out.”

The doctor left the room, and Shireen let out a massive sigh, looking over to Rickon cautiously. He took a seat across from her. A neutral smile was on his face. “So no baby,” he said. “I told you not to trust pieces of plastic.”

“Is it—Are you okay with it?” Shireen asked, reaching out for his hand.

“Shireen, whether or not you have a baby is one hundred percent your decision,” Rickon said firmly, meeting her gaze. “I mean, I’d like to be part of that conversation, just as much as I like being part of your life… But it’s your decision. I won’t be doing the hard work there, and you have to be okay with it first.”

Shireen gave him a weak smile. She moved out of her seat to settle in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his collarbone. “You’re incredible, you know that?”

“I just want you to be happy,” Rickon said. He gave her a warm smile, making her heart pound, before he kissed her firmly. He pulled back, pressing his nose against hers in the process. “And I really like seeing your smile.”

“Then, let’s go someplace nice,” Shireen said, standing up and pulling him to his feet. “Maybe start having _conversations_.”

“Like what?” Rickon asked, following her out of the office.

“Like what you’re making for dinner,” Shireen said, turning to give him a wink.

Rickon laughed, walking into her back and wrapping his arms around her. “I’ll get you whatever you want,” he whispered into her ear. “Just say the word.”

They were out in the parking lot before Shireen turned to him again. “Well, we should probably get some condoms first,” she whispered back.

“And here I thought I might have scared you away from that,” he said, laughing. “Dinner’s going to be easier than I thought.”

Shireen rocked up to her toes so she could kiss him. It was so nice to be with him, so easy. She could get relax in the comfort of him and forget about the rest of the world.

_This must be what it’s like to be in love._

Looking over to Rickon, he was sporting a fairly suggestive smile, and she had completely missed whatever he said. Sure, he was willing to be intimate with her, sleep with her, pleasure her whenever, but did that mean he loved her? Would he tell her? Should she ask? Her heart was pounding, and her mind had raced off to a million different places at once, getting stuck at a crossroads of questions about her future and whether it involved Rickon. How long was this going to last? How many months would she have to wait before she knew?

“Hey, you okay there?” Rickon asked, reaching out to turn her face to meet his. He was extremely close to her, looking her straight in the eyes. “You look lost.”

“My train of thought was, um, derailed,” she mumbled out.

“Well, keep yourself safe up there, okay?” Rickon said. He pulled her closer and kissed her gently. “I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I won’t.” She pressed up into his chest, hugging him back. She was back in the safety of him, back in the comfort that he provided, and regardless of how long it lasted, she was just happy to be here. Shireen was determined to enjoy this ride, no matter where she ended up getting off.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you mean I'm not supposed to update every day? How long have I even been doing this?

Weddings definitely never seemed like something Rickon would be particularly interested in. Judging by the Stark family, most of his siblings were also content to keep dating forever, unconcerned as his siblings seemed to be with the whole ordeal. Arya and Gendry had been a constant ever since she graduated high school; Bran and Jojen were nearly inseparable. As far as Rickon knew, neither of them seemed to be concerned with prospects of marriage. Robb had nearly sworn it off himself after near disaster with Jeyne Westerling and Roslin Frey, but he certainly looked happy enough with Margaery Tyrell.

Sansa, on the other hand, looked extremely bored. Rickon easily guessed that she appeared to be the most bored-looking person at this reception, and he had a suspicion that it was because her date, Willas Tyrelll, was incapable of dancing. Not that Rickon could blame the guy, his leg was entirely out of use, but Sansa kept sighing and checking her phone. A part of him almost wanted to go ask her to dance himself, but the girl on his arm was keeping him at her side all night.

Shireen looked positively stunning tonight. She was wearing a green bridesmaid dress and her hair had been twisted into some fancy updo. There was a desire to pull it apart so he could get his fingers through it again, but he resisted the urge. He knew how much she liked looking nice. Rickon had been at her side all night, asking her to dance at every opportunity, even though he usually didn’t enjoy dancing. He certainly enjoyed it with Shireen pressed up against him. 

They were seated now, having taken a spot at a table near his parents. Shireen had been complaining about never having met them properly, so Rickon figured that this would be their best chance. Shireen had immediately taken to speaking with his mom, and occasionally his father would interject. They were having a nice conversation that Rickon largely wasn’t a part of, though he assumed his father was questioning her about _him_ more than anything.

“Treating you right, is he?” his father asked. “He was always trouble growing up… nearly blew up the house.”

“I did not!” Rickon countered. He raised his eyes, wracking his brains for the memory. Surely, his father was referring to the small part of his life where he was setting everything on fire. “There was plenty of time to grab the fire extinguishers…”

Catelyn rolled her eyes. “You were right next to the barbecue!” she pointed out. “With a rather large bonfire going.”

“Robb put it out,” Rickon muttered, deciding that he didn’t want to be part of the conversation anyway. He snuck his hand into Shireen’s, squeezing it gently and looking out on the rest of the party.

Arya was sitting on top of a table some distance away, downing another shot or two. Meanwhile, Gendry stood beside her, trying to pull her away from the free drinks. Sansa was still looking down at her phone, her face illuminated by the bright screen, and he could see her typing out a rather long message. Robb and Margaery had taken seats somewhere and they were being bombarded by guests requesting pictures and offering congratulations. Off in the distance, he caught Theon carrying a platter of waters, no doubt his duties for the night were in keeping the bride and groom hydrated. He was trying to pick Bran out of the crowd when Shireen shook his leg roughly.

“Tell them about how we met,” she said. There was a strange sort of look in her eyes, and he realized what she was asking. She wanted to know how much was okay to tell his parents.

“How we met?” he questioned back, entirely uncertain that either of his parents would enjoy the same truth they told Davos.

“Yeah, tell them how you met in a bar, Rickon.”

Rickon turned sharply at the voice of his brother. Bran was very obviously tipsy, being hauled around by Jojen. Neither of them were very keen on hiding their laughter, but Rickon’s attention was snapped back by his mother’s shocked, “ _What?_ ”

“What?” Rickon replied innocently. “No, Mom. I didn’t meet Shireen at a bar. Of course not, Bran, you fucker.” He aimed a shove at his brother, who was rescued by his boyfriend’s stumbling step away.

“At least I won’t tell her about how you—”

Rickon stood up quickly, physically moving his brother out of the area and biting his tongue to stop the string of obscenities from leaving his mouth. He went back to the seat next to Shireen, but before he could read her expression, his mother said, “You won’t tell me about what?”

Swallowing hard, Rickon decided that the only safe course of action was equivocating out the messy parts of that night. “Yeah, we actually met at a bar,” he conceded.

“ _And I won’t like what?_ ” Catelyn insisted further.

A part of Rickon was largely surprised that that hadn’t been terribly traumatizing for her. Suddenly, he felt like he was back in grade school, trying to weasel his way out of a punishment that he definitely deserved. “I kind of, sort of, maybe punched a guy in the face first?”

His mother’s jaw dropped at the same time his father’s eyebrow shot into the air. Luckily, Shireen was quick to come to his rescue.

“No, _I_ punched a guy in the face first,” she corrected. “You punched him second, and you will not keep stealing my thunder.”

“My sincerest apologies, Zeus,” Rickon muttered, leaning forward to squeeze her hand again and kiss her cheek.

She rolled her eyes lightly, turning back to his parents. “He keeps trying to be all honorable about it, saying that he did all the punching, but I was holding my own,” Shireen went on. “Though, I must admit that it was quite nice to have someone defending me for once. I don’t think anyone else would have gotten into a bar fight on my behalf.”

Rickon had never seen his parents looking more confused. They looked like they wanted to reprimand him for getting into a fight, praise him for defending Shireen, and maybe just forget that they had heard any of this. Still, Rickon wrapped his arms around Shireen and said, “It was my pleasure. But maybe you can stop horrifying my parents?”

“Oh no,” Shireen muttered. She turned just slightly toward him, tapping his chin. “Have I lost their approval?”

“I’m sure Rickon’s already done that work for you,” his dad said gruffly. “But as long as the two of you are happy, you’ll have no objections from us.”

“Yay,” Shireen muttered, turning further into him and hugging him close. 

Rickon returned the hug, watching a warm smile appear on his mother’s face. His father slung an arm over her shoulders, and they shared a look. Taking Shireen’s hands, Rickon pulled her away slightly. “Do you want to dance some more?” he asked.

Shireen grinned at him. “How else are we going to burn off all the cake we’re going to eat?” she asked back, standing up and pulling him to the dance floor.

Before they got back into the swing of things, Rickon pulled her close and whispered in her ear, “I can think of a few ideas.”

Her face went scarlet, enough so that Rickon could make it out in the low lights of the room. He kissed her swiftly before pulling her deeper into the throng of people and letting her get lost in the music once more. Margaery either had excellent taste in music, or she was really good at throwing parties because the crowd of dancing attendees had scarcely withered since everyone was invited to join the dance floor. Shireen had been gushing about the perfection of the ceremony before the reception started, and now she wouldn’t stop going on about how this wedding was so marvelous. Rickon had a feeling that he needed to up his game.

It wasn’t until Shireen noticed Sansa looking dejected that she pulled Rickon close again. “Would you please go ask Sansa to dance?” she asked.

“Only since you gave me permission,” he said. “I’ve been keeping an eye on her, too.” He kissed Shireen briefly before walking up to the table and around it to place himself between Willas and Sansa. “Excuse me, but could I maybe steal my sister for a dance? I’m afraid the party can’t properly pick up until she joins us.”

“Oh, not at all!” Willas said, a blush clear on his cheeks. “Please! Go enjoy yourselves!”

Sansa muttered out her thanks, taking Rickon’s hand and looking somewhere between dejected and optimistic. “I just have to be rescued by my baby brother,” she said. “Is that pathetic or what?”

“Well, Robb’s a little busy and Bran has about the same relationship with dance floors as Willas does,” Rickon reminded her. He slowly led her through the crowd to where Shireen was waiting. She was bouncing up on the balls of her feet, clapping her hands together excitedly.

As they neared Shireen, she held out a hand to Sansa. “You go take a rest,” she pointedly told Rickon. “I think we need a proper ladies’ dance.”

“As you wish,” he replied. He didn’t let her leave without a kiss, though. And though Sansa was rolling her eyes at them, she looked happy to be going off with someone she wasn’t related to. Rickon watched them disappear back into the dancing, and he went off to find Robb. 

His eldest brother was standing near a corner of the hall with Margaery, and they had only had a small moment of privacy before someone went to offer their congratulations again. Margaery looked a little pissed before she smiled a bit too brightly back at them. Their guest, however, kept talking incessantly, and Rickon saw both his brother and the bride getting more and more peeved. Rickon walked over quickly, pulling at the shoulder of the guest in question.

“Excuse me,” he said loudly. “But I need to see the bride and groom for a minute, it’s of utmost urgency.”

The guest looked momentarily annoyed at him before leaving. Then, Margaery flung her arms around Rickon’s neck. “You are a lifesaver!” she squealed. “And I am starving. Seriously, I know we just ate at the dinner, but everyone’s been getting snacks throughout this, and it has been hours and I am hungry.”

“I’ll get you some food, dear,” Robb promised. His hands were steadily moving up and down her arms, trying to soothe them of the cross they were in.

“I mean, you should probably hide,” Rickon suggested. “There’s a hidden room, just over there—” He pointed over across the room. “I’ll get you some food.”

The couple thanked him before running off quickly, obviously trying to avoid any more intrusions. Rickon walked over to the remaining buffet of finger foods, locating the largest plate and filling it up. He almost left like that before deciding to prepare another. He thought of how Robb and Margaery weren’t enjoying the night too much and shook his head, suddenly thinking that weddings weren’t worth the trouble when the one exception crashed back into him.

“Feeding an army?” Shireen asked, nicking a bit of his food and shoving it in her mouth. She grabbed another and held it up to him. Rickon opened his mouth to accept the morsel and kissed her in return.

“Feeding my brother and his wife,” Rickon corrected, chewing through the piece. “Marg just exploded on me to complain about how hungry she is. Want to help me grab some drinks?”

“Sure,” Shireen smiled. She went over to the bar and ordered them large glasses of water, carrying them back to Rickon. Then, he led her over to the small room just off the hall. 

Robb and Margaery were slumped into chairs that had been pulled close together, and she was leaning onto his shoulder. Margaery’s feet were propped up on the table, and Robb’s arm was over her shoulders. When they spotted Rickon, they both sat up sharply. Shireen laughed, following him into the room. Before Rickon could even set down the plates, they were digging in, looking extremely happy as they chewed through the food.

“We should also offer our congratulations,” Shireen said, nudging Rickon in the ribs.

He took her hand to distract her from the glare Margaery was about to shoot. “Very quickly, though,” he said. “And then, we should just leave them alone.”

“We should?” she asked back, looking confused. A look of realization crossed her face. “Oh! Yes, we should.” Shireen gripped his hand in return, giving a small wave with her other hand before pulling Rickon back into the hall. She pouted slightly at him.

“Give them time first,” he said. He knew that she wanted to ask about cake and the latter events of the night. Still, he recognized how exhausting this must be for the bride and groom, so he was willing to give them their time. With a small smile, Rickon pulled Shireen back over to the edge of the dance floor, hoping to distract her with something for the time being. His sister was more than prepared to fill that role, bouncing over with two shots in her hands.

It was a wonder that Arya managed to get over without spilling anything, and Rickon figured that Gendry was largely a part of it. Arya went over until she was sidled up next to Shireen, pressing the full shot glass in her hand. “Shireen,” she slurred out. “I need you, and you only, to take a shot with me.”

“Arya, you’ve told that to everyone here,” Gendry reminded her. He had a defeated look on his face, one that told Rickon he was definitely not looking forward to tomorrow morning.

“That’s because I need everyone to take a shot with me!” Arya insisted. “Especially since you won’t!”

“Arya.” Rickon could see Gendry about to bring up something he’s undoubtedly told her already. “I will take the last shot with you, okay? Once I do it, we’re all done.”

“Shireen, first!” Arya shouted. “Then, Rickon. Then, you.”

“Or,” Rickon cut through, seeing if he still the skills to rationalize with his drunken sister. “How about we all take the shot together? Then, we’ll all be done.”

Arya’s face was very slowly moving with the math she was surely trying to complete. She didn’t look like she was quite adding everything up together properly. She frowned hard, turning to Gendry. “It’s the same, right?” she asked.

Gendry nodded. “It’s the same.”

“Good!” Arya said. She beamed up at her boyfriend. “I love you!”

“I love you, too,” Gendry sighed, kissing the top of her head. He went off to retrieve the other two shots.

Rickon felt a small pang in his chest watching them. Once upon a time, he had told Shireen something very similar. She had responded poorly, though, so he was waiting for the most ideal time to tell her again. A part of him had been hoping that she’d bring it up, but she never seemed concerned with it. Now, Rickon was just waiting until he was positive the sentiment would be returned in the right circumstances. He couldn’t just bring it up when emotions were already high from other things…

He was brought back to the present when someone clumsily forced a shot into his hand. He glanced up to watch Arya shaping his fingers around the glass. He gripped it firmly, watching the rest of the group do the same. Arya grinned at them, counted to three, and they all swallowed the drink. Shireen placed the glass back on the table, hiding a slightly sour expression with a smile. Arya thanked them a million times before Gendry ushered her off, obviously steering her in attempt to get some food into her.

Rickon watched Shireen look slightly uncomfortable, her mouth twisting. He could just imagine how her tongue was sweeping the insides of her mouth, mingling with the leftover flavor. “What’s wrong?” he asked, taking a seat and pulling her into his lap.

“Not so great memories,” Shireen replied, sticking out her tongue. He raised his eyebrows in question. Shireen sighed and looked back at him. Rickon was reminded that even though they met in a bar twice, they hadn’t done much drinking together. Shireen leaned into his neck and said, “I used to go out drinking and hope that I could, you know, forget.”

“Ah,” Rickon breathed out. His hand reached around her waist, holding her firmly.

“I mean, I didn’t get to the point of one night stands,” she said pointedly. “But it was nice to just make out with guys who no longer cared what you looked like.” Her cheeks were burning slightly, and she was obviously trying to hide in his neck.

“Shireen,” Rickon said, not bothering to ease her out of her spot. “Do you maybe want to kiss me?”

She breathed out a laugh. Pulling back, she looked at him evenly. “What’s that going to accomplish?”

Rickon shrugged. “I just really want to kiss you.”

Laughing, Shireen moved into the kiss, meeting his mouth fully. Their tongues automatically sought each other out, sweeping around and linking them together. Rickon kissed her fully, letting his hands roam over the smooth fabric of her dress and dig just slightly into her hair. It wasn’t long until she was breathing hard against his mouth, peppering light kisses over his face.

“I bet I look ridiculous now,” he thought out loud, picturing himself with the marks of her kisses everywhere.

Shireen laughed, leaning back to assess him. “You’ll have to thank Margaery for that, too,” she said. “Apparently, this lipstick is top-notch.”

Rickon had half a mind to continue kissing her before telling her now. Spilling his heart to her had never seemed like a difficult thing, the timing was just always wrong. He couldn’t do it _now_ , after taking a shot. She’d blame the alcohol, think he was drunk off of it. He needed to be completely sober, sometime when they weren’t in the middle of kissing or doing other emotionally-charged things. He needed her to know that he was serious, so he decided to wait. As long as it took, he would wait for a perfect moment. Shireen was worth it.

She pulled back from the kisses with a smile. “So tequila tastes pretty good in your mouth,” she said, pursing her lips slightly.

He nearly laughed. “Is that how you want your shots now?”

“Shut up.”

“I can turn myself into a shot glass for you,” he offered.

Shireen was ready to retort back when Margaery made a spectacle of herself, waving her bouquet around over her head. A look of pure excitement crossed Shireen’s face, and she gave Rickon a slightly pleading look.

“Well, go on then,” he said, giving her bottom a light pat as she scurried off. 

He followed slowly after her, joining a group of bachelors and hoping that the garter toss wouldn’t be as much of a spectacle. In full support of the fact that his life was not a movie, Rickon watched one of the many Tyrell cousins catch the bouquet and his cousin Jon get hit with the garter. The two were forced to share a dance, where they both appeared to be trying to keep their expressions neutral. Rickon had a strong suspicion that they both had significant others in attendance. At least, he was positive that Jon did.

Shireen found her way back against his side, holding him snugly as the dance finished up awkwardly. Giggles spilled from her mouth as she watched Jon apologetically gesturing to his feisty red-headed girlfriend, and Rickon pulled her attention away. After all, there was still cake to be had.

A large piece of cake was given to Shireen, so they shared the slice. Sitting together in one chair, Rickon accepted bites from Shireen as she fed the two of them, smiling happily and humming to herself. Feelings of contentment washed over him, and Rickon didn’t bother to stop himself from reimagining this event. Regardless of how Robb and Margaery seemed to be feeling earlier, watching them share cake and kisses was filling his brain with ideas of what it would be like to have Shireen there. He could give her cake, dance with her, kiss her, know that they were married. 

Rickon shook himself, finding Shireen holding out another piece of cake for him. He accepted it and decided to let the feeling sit there. After all, if she shared an ounce of what he was feeling, they could be here again very, very soon.


	12. Chapter 12

   
“Hey, um, Rickon?”

Rickon turned from washing the dishes. He looked over at Shireen. In the year that they had spent living together, she had rarely called from him across the room, especially using a voice like that. She was still sitting at the table, picking at the top of it and swinging her feet slowly beneath her. Something about her was off, she seemed shy now, and it was making his stomach churn. He tried to finish up the dishes quickly, but he replied anyway with a small, “Yeah?”

Shireen was quiet for a moment. Her hands fixed her hair a few times before rubbing at her arms, bare under the sundress she was wearing. During that time, Rickon finished up the dishes, turning off the water and taking a seat across from Shireen. It felt oddly formal. As it was, they rarely used the dinner table for dinner. Usually, they ate on the couch or on the bed. It was another minute before Shireen looked up at him. She pursed her lips before she said, “I think I’m gonna move out.”

“Of here?” Rickon asked automatically. He realized that it was a stupid question. She wasn’t living anywhere else anymore. He recalled the first time she mentioned moving out, back when she first started living with him. They were happy together, weren’t they? Did she really want to leave? 

Very slowly, Shireen started nodding.

Sucking in a deep breath, Rickon watched her carefully. He felt a twitch run up his arms, and he wanted to reach out to her. He stopped himself, though. “Can I ask why?” he asked.

The silence of the room was pressing in around them. Rickon suddenly wished that he had turned on the TV during dinner. He needed noise. He needed something to distract himself from the thought that his girlfriend might not like him anymore.

“It just... It doesn’t feel like it’s _mine_ , you know?” Shireen started slowly. Rickon was watching the corners of her eyes crinkle as she articulated her thoughts. He gave her a look that he hoped would encourage her to keep talking. She did. “I mean… I still think of here as your apartment: that’s your couch, and this is your table, and that’s your bed. I feel like I’m just here, but nothing’s mine. You don’t even let me pay rent.”

Rickon cleared his throat. “I thought it’d be easier for you,” he said softly. “You wouldn’t have to worry about it… Do you want to go get new furniture, or do you just want to—to leave?”

“Oh, Rickon, no,” Shireen said quickly. She reached forward and took his hand. “I don’t want to leave you. I just want to be part of this… more fully, at least. I feel like finding somewhere else to live might do that for me…”

Rickon stared down at their clasped hands. The smooth skin under the pads of her fingers was tracing a soft pattern over the back of his hand. Very slowly, he twisted his fingers around to hold her hand. “Can I go with you?” he muttered out. “And maybe… keep living with you?”

Shireen gave him a weak smile. “We’ll have to find a place,” she said. “I’m not sure how that’ll go… but we can try.”

Trying did not seem like the best outcome to Rickon. It sounded a lot like he was losing Shireen. She was the most important person in his life now. He had been in love with her ever since he woke up with her in his arms lo those many months ago. He silently cursed himself for not making it more explicit. She deserved to know, but now everything seemed hopeless. A life without Shireen wasn’t a life he wanted to imagine. However, if trying was the most he could do at the moment, then he would. Rickon resolved to do everything he could to make everything work out for the both of them.

For the next few weeks, they shopped around, looking for a place they could get together that they’d both enjoy. Shireen was just a little bit more distant than he was used to, and he gave her space, wanting her to come to decisions on her own if she needed to.

After one particularly indecisive time, Shireen simply stopped talking to him, going out to have dinner with friends and leaving him alone in the apartment. His mind was immensely cluttered, thinking through everything he needed to consider for his future. When he was completely lost, he called Sansa.

“So you just think she hates you now?” Sansa asked.

Rickon could practically feel Sansa going into big sister mode. “I mean, she’s been really distant lately,” he told her. “I just feel like I’m losing her.”

Sansa sighed into the line. “Well, she still talks about you like you’re her own personal prince charming,” Sansa said firmly. “The way she gushes about you… I’d say she still really likes you.”

“Then what’s going on?” Rickon asked, slumping down on the couch. He threw his empty hand out, reaching for his drink.

“Maybe she wants something more serious?” Sansa suggested. “Like… you’re not committed enough.”

“I’m not committed enough?” Rickon asked, slumping down further into the couch.

“It could happen.”

\--

Shireen was still a little odd around him. They still slept together in his bed. They still shared kisses in the small hours of the morning. They still made love to each other and held each other close. They were still together. Rickon still wanted her. He still asked for her. He still waited for her. Shireen still gave herself willingly, sometimes asking for kisses, but he still felt like they left their bubble of comfort far too often. Maybe they did need a new place together.

During their next round of looking for a place, Rickon drove Shireen around, watching her reactions carefully. She looked about the same at every apartment they visited, walking around slowly. Shireen didn’t seem to have any preferences about them, following him along. It wasn’t until they were at the last stop for the day that she finally questioned him.

“A house?”

They were in the middle of a small, quiet neighborhood. Each house was styled differently, and Rickon really hoped Shireen would like it here. He took off his seatbelt and left the car. Crossing it, he watched Shireen just looking around at everything. He opened her door for her and gave her a hand. “You didn’t seem to be enjoying the apartments too much,” he said. “I thought we could think about trying something else.”

Shireen furrowed her brow, looking around. “It doesn’t appear to be for sale… or rent…” she said slowly.

“It is,” Rickon said. “I mean, I called up the owners first.”

“Oh,” Shireen mumbled. Slowly, she walked up the perfectly manicured lawn to the flagstone pathway. Hesitantly, she tried the door, as if she wasn’t expecting it to open for her. It did, though, and Rickon followed her inside.

Following her lead, Rickon watched Shireen examine the small house. Her hands traveled over countertops and bookshelves, and she twirled around every room, looking around and out the windows. As she went, she kept smiling to herself, peeking into rooms before entering them fully. She walked lightly over the carpet, but her feet tapped the hardwood floors even more. Finally, she looked outside.

“There’s a pool,” she said simply. The yard was nice and spacious, gated in from a small wood outside. Rickon stepped out, letting the sun of the day hit him. Shireen walked around the pool slowly, taking off her sandal and slipping her toes into the water. She went onto the grass for a while, stepping softly over it. Then, she laughed. “And we could get a dog.”

Rickon grinned at her. “Yeah, we could.”

Shireen let out a sigh, and the smile faded from her face. She made her way back inside, going to the kitchen and resting her elbows on the countertops. Rickon followed her, shutting the door behind them.

“What would we do with a house, Rickon?” Shireen asked. Slowly, she turned to him. “I mean, sure: boyfriend, girlfriend, a dog… I guess it works. But there’s so much space. Am I… Are _we_ ready for a house?”

“I am,” Rickon said firmly. He looked up to Shireen, still seeing the worry creeping onto her face. “Are you?”

“I mean, it just seems like something married people do,” Shireen said. “Do I even want to get married? Do you?”

Rickon took a small step toward her, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I’d get married to you.”

Shireen blinked up at him. Then, she shook her head. With quick steps, she walked into him, drawing him into a hug. “No, we don’t have to,” she said. “It’s fine.”

Rickon narrowed his eyes at her, moving away slightly. “You don’t think I’d marry you?”

“I don’t think I’d get married,” Shireen admitted, meeting his gaze. “Just because… whatever. But you don’t really want to marry me. You haven’t even told me that you love me…”

Rickon felt his jaw drop. He shut his mouth quickly, stepping back toward her. Shireen took a small step away, but he kept going. “Is that what this is about?” he asked. “That’s why you’ve been…? You thought that I…? Fucking hells…”

Shireen raised her hands up, as if it could stop him from moving closer. “Rickon, you don’t have to—”

“Yeah, I do,” he said. He continued to take slow steps as he spoke. “Because I need to make this abundantly clear to you: _I love you_. I’ve loved you since I woke up with you in my arms that very first morning. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want you to have a place you love, filled with people you love, that you feel safe and comfortable in. The _only_ reason why I didn’t try to tell you sooner was because I didn’t want to force myself on you. I didn’t want you to think that my love was something you had to reciprocate just because you lived with me, for fuck’s sake.”

Shireen was pressed up against the counter now, looking up at Rickon. He continued to look at her, reaching out for one of her hands.

“I love you, Shireen Baratheon,” Rickon said slowly. “And if you want, I will marry you at this instant. And we can live in this house or any other place you like because I just want to see you smile every day. I will marry you. Fuck, I _want_ to marry you. I even went out to get you a nice ring—”

He pulled a small box out of his pocket and placed it on the counter behind her. Shireen sucked in a quick breath, and Rickon watched her eyes fill with tears. Still, he moved into her until they were almost kissing. The hand that he held was starting to shake in his. Rickon gripped it more firmly and went on.

“I fucking love you,” he said slowly, full of conviction. “With everything I am. And I want you to be my wife. I want you today, and tomorrow… and _forever_ until I die. And if that’s too fucking clingy or whatever, you don’t have to marry me. But _I want to marry you_.”

A single tear rolled down Shireen’s cheek. She pulled her head away the smallest amount, shaking it lightly. “People don’t fall in love with me, Rickon,” she mumbled out. “I can’t get—no one would ever dare to marry me.”

Rickon took her by the jaw gently, turning her to face him directly. With a slow movement, he moved his fingers over her scars. “Fucking watch me,” he told her. Then, he kissed her. Moving slowly at first, Rickon eased his mouth over hers. He swept his hands over her jaw, moving her into him as close as possible. Her hands lay weakly at his chest until his tongue went into her mouth, and then her hands fisted into his shirt, pulling him closer. Reaching down, Rickon lifted her onto the counter, and Shireen wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him in closer. He continued kissing her, showing her how much he wanted her, pouring his affection into her. Sliding his hands up her sides and down her back, Rickon pressed into her further, searching the counter for the small ring box. Fumbling slightly, he opened the box and pulled out the ring.

Shireen’s hands found their way to his face in all the movement. She was holding him tightly and kissing him fiercely before they finally slowed down. Her fingers were a light trace over his cheekbones when they finally broke apart. “I love you,” she mumbled out.

Rickon found himself smirking at her, before he pressed another kiss to her lips. Then, he held up the ring firmly. “Then, marry me.”

Laughing and crying, Shireen nodded her head vigorously, holding out a shaking hand toward him. Rickon took it slowly, rubbing and kneading his fingers over it to steady her. Then, he kissed her knuckles before finally sliding the ring onto her finger. Shireen was completely motionless looking down at her hand. Rickon was still holding it, and he lifted her hand to kiss her ringed finger before kissing her lips once more.

Her hands fisted into his hair, pulling him close until they were almost entirely bent over the counter. Slowly, Shireen pushed him away, sitting up and fixing her dress. Rickon combed his fingers through her hair to fix it before helping her down.

“Um, so how much would this house be?” Shireen asked, playing at casual and walking around aimlessly.

Rickon couldn’t take his eyes off of her hands, and how she was twisting the ring around her finger constantly. “About that,” he said slowly. “I sort of came to a deal with the owners already… it’d be free.”

“What?” Shireen asked, turning to him abruptly.

“We’d just pay utilizes and stuff,” Rickon said, shrugging. He tried to turn about the room slowly, but Shireen walked right up to him.

“Who are the owners?” she asked sharply.

Rickon bent into her to kiss her scarred cheek. “You can see for yourself,” he said. “They’re waiting outside to see if we’re engaged or not.”

Shireen froze, slowly mouthing the word ‘engaged.’ She bit her lip before walking back over to the front door. With a trembling hand, she took the handle. It wasn’t until Rickon’s hand covered hers that she took a deep breath and went outside. Almost immediately, she burst into tears. Rickon wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her hair. When he looked up, he caught the eyes of his parents looking equally teary. Shireen looked up at him, her blue eyes swimming with tears. “Really?” she asked weakly.

“Well, I don’t know how they feel about their youngest getting married,” he said. “Although they _did_ offer to pay for the wedding.”

With a few steps forward, Shireen went into Catelyn’s waiting arms, hugging her tightly. Both women were crying, and Rickon went over to accept a congratulatory handshake from his father before being pulled into a full embrace. They hugged for a while until Shireen pulled back, going into Rickon’s arms and wiping her eyes gently. Rickon took her arms and bought them down.

“I don’t think we’re done yet,” he said. With a smile, he looked up to his mom. “I mean, my family sucks at keeping secrets and respecting privacy.”

Laughing, Catelyn turned to her husband. “Well, we didn’t say anything explicit,” she started slowly.

“But I’m sure all your brothers and sisters want to know the news,” Ned finished. “And they may or may not be just around the fence…”

Sure enough, all the Stark siblings slowly emerged onto the lawn, swallowing Rickon and Shireen in hugs and congratulations. Very soon, they were crowded inside the house, and Robb told Shireen the story of the house, and how it was the first that Ned and Catelyn owned when they got married. They still owned the place, and had rented it out some, but they had always been hoping that one of their children would settle in it again.

“Okay!” Margaery said loudly. “But can we _please_ get some pictures of that ring? Rickon’s being sneaking around with it for weeks!”

“Marg!” Rickon exclaimed. At the same time, Shireen twisted around the face him, asking, “Weeks?”

He felt a blush creep onto his face. He leaned down into Shireen, holding her tight on his lap. “I mean… there were other plans about asking you,” he said sheepishly. “I just… I’ve been waiting for the right moment…”

“And how did _they_ know that it would be now?” Shireen asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Rickon looked over to his siblings. They all shared a look and shrug before Jojen said, “Bran knows everything.”

Bran shook his head. “I just _happened_ to hear Mom and Dad talking about coming over here,” he said simply. “And I knew there could only be one reason for that…”

Everyone laughed. They enjoyed the company for a while, sitting around the house and showing it to everyone who hadn’t seen it before. It wasn’t until they were all starting to leave for their respective homes (after deciding on having another family dinner to celebrate) that Arya came over and not-so-quietly asked, “So when’s the big day gonna be?”

Rickon watched as his entire family froze, looking over to him for an answer. He just turned to Shireen, letting her decide. She met his gaze evenly, narrowing her eyes slightly. She glanced around at his entire family before settling back on him again. With a small smile, she asked, “Soon, right?”

Laughing, Rickon pulled her into his chest for a hug and kiss, pressing their foreheads together. “Soon.”


	13. Chapter 13

Being engaged to Rickon easily became one of Shireen’s favorite things about her life. His family’s natural invasiveness made it so that they didn’t have to do any big announcements, but she was still figuring out how to go about telling her family. Even better was how unconcerned Rickon was about letting other people know. He kept insisting that she didn’t even have to tell them if she didn’t want to, so she mellowed back through the process, unconcerned with the fact that he would occasionally ask oddly-specific questions about their wedding.

Shireen smiled at the thought. She was just waking up, letting the feelings seep into her before she decided if she was going to leave the apartment today or not. It was a Saturday, and she had gotten the day off work specifically so she could spend the day with Rickon, but that didn’t mean she had to leave the bed. Everything around him was suddenly much calmer: all the stresses that had been eating at her from before had dissipated to nothing after his proposal.

Stretching, Shireen arched her back, feeling her stomach hit Rickon’s ribs. He let out a low sound, turning into her and wrapping her in his arms. Letting out a trill of giggles, she cuddled into his bare chest. The lack of clothing that they usually sported nowadays was a comfort to her, especially given how Rickon stared at her. He was doing so right now, through half-lidded eyes that were drooping enough to make her think he was going back to sleep.

Rickon curled against her, hooking a leg over her hips and grabbing her jaw lightly to press kisses over her face. “You know, I used to hate mornings,” he said slowly. Rolling over, he placed her on her back and kissed her deeply. His tongue swept her mouth without abandon, making her press up into him. He chuckled against her mouth, dragging down the blankets. “You always know how to wake me up nicely, though.”

The day turned out to be especially lazy. Shireen, however, was unconcerned with whatever she had planned for the day when Rickon was so thorough in his affections. Before either of them had gotten out of bed, they’d already been tangled together multiple times, teasing the other and coaxing out sounds of pleasure.

The new sense of comfort was nice, especially when Shireen could just sit around on days like this and enjoy his company. Rickon doted on her constantly, pressing kisses to her bare hip as she called for a pizza. Regardless of what they were going to be doing for lunch, she knew that clothes were not going to be involved, and it was always the easiest option when they were stuck in bed all day.

Rickon always looked sleepy when he stayed in bed all day, and Shireen suspected that only the prospects of food were keeping him awake now. He was currently lying over her stomach, his hands tucked beneath her back. When the doorbell rang, he frowned and glanced up at her. “Who’s that?” he asked.

“Lunch,” Shireen said. She stretched out again before sliding out of bed. She was going to fetch her bathrobe and retrieve their food, knowing that Rickon liked to lounge around all day. However, she was stopped when Rickon put a hand across her stomach, pinning her against him.

“Get back in bed,” he whispered into her ear, nibbling on it slightly.

She shuddered before turning to face him, the silk of her bathrobe still held loosely in her hand. “You don’t always have to pay for me,” she told him. “I wanted pizza, so I can pay for it.”

“Sure, you can,” Rickon said sarcastically. He pressed her up against the wall, sliding his hands up to her breasts and making her moan. “But I’ll be damned if I let anyone else see you in _that_. Now get back in bed.”

This is the sort of possessiveness that she has come to expect from him. Rickon was always more than happy to have her on his arm and parade her through town as his, but he wouldn’t let anyone else come close to seeing her in less than decent dress. She knew it was because she told him about some of her most embarrassing escapades in college, but he took it in stride, keeping her in her comfort zone and letting her come out when she wanted. However, he definitely had a preference about who was allowed any visualization of her undressed.

Slowly, she went back to bed, climbing up against the pillows to satisfy him. He went over to kiss her firmly on the mouth before taking a pillow and walking out to the door. Shireen pressed a hand to her mouth, knowing that he wasn’t going to bother trying for decency. She closed her eyes, straining her ears to hear the exchange.

“Uh, um, I have your pizza,” someone said sheepishly. She could just imagine the delivery boy looking anywhere except for at Rickon.

“Thanks,” came his short reply. There was a small moment of shuffling, undoubtedly the exchange of money and food. Then, Rickon’s voice again: “Keep the change.”

When Rickon came back into the room, he was carrying two pizza boxes in one hand, and the pillow was dangling at his side. Shireen tried her best not to stare, forcing her eyes up to the ceiling.

He placed the pizzas on the bedside table before tossing the pillow back onto the bed. “Trying to be as modest as the delivery boy?” he asked, jumping onto the bed next to her.

Shireen turned into him, hitting him lightly across the chest. “You didn’t even put pants on!”

Rickon shrugged, reaching over and grabbing a slice of pizza. He held it up for her before taking a bite himself. “Better to have him afraid to look at me than far too interested in looking at you,” he replied. “I can’t just let other people be ogling my fiancée. Especially when she’s looking fucking sexy in that stupid silky robe…”

Rolling her eyes, Shireen swallowed before she said, “People don’t ogle me, Rickon.”

“I do,” Rickon replied, giving her a cheeky smile before taking another bite of pizza. He chewed through it slowly, leaning over to her and pressing her into the bed. He placed the half-eaten slice on the bedside table and moved into a plank until he was directly above her. “I watch you so closely, every fucking day, trying to figure out all the fun things I’d like to do to you.”

Shireen’s breath caught, and she sucked in a breath as Rickon began kissing his way down her neck. He was particularly attentive to her scars when she finally pushed him away. “I was actually hungry, you know,” she told him.

“Yeah, me too,” Rickon said, moving himself lower to get his mouth onto her.

“Rickon!” Shireen rolled him onto his back, climbing over him to get at the remainder of the pizza. He let out a small groan. Shireen busied herself with a slice of pizza, humming to herself as she ate through it. After a short time, Rickon was against her back, his arms around her as he also managed his own slices of pizza. She laughed at him, turning to kiss at the hinge of his jaw.

They had eaten their fill by the time Rickon thought to fetch them drinks. He still didn’t bother with his clothes, and Shireen watched him stroll through the apartment, keeping a close eye on the flex and pull of all his muscles. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t enjoying the view. He was always a joy to watch carefully, and she loved seeing the way his walk shifted to a prowl when he was headed back to her. He had a glass of water pressed to her lips, begging her to drink. Shireen did so slowly, only just reaching for the glass, but pressing her fingers to his. As she swallowed the cool liquid, she felt Rickon’s hands moving gently over her throat and down to her stomach, heating all the parts of her that the water had just chilled.

Once the glass was empty, Rickon pulled it away slowly. He kept his eyes trained on her as he blindly put down the empty cup. Then, he picked up his own, finishing it in three easy gulps. Shireen was fascinated watching his Adam’s apple bob with each swallow, and her gaze kept drifting down, past his stomach that was flexing gently as he breathed and even further until—

“Are you ogling me?” Rickon asked.

Shireen’s eyes quickly snapped up to his, her face going hot. “No,” she said quickly. 

Rickon was smirking at her, beginning his slow climb over her. She scrambled back some, but Rickon continued his pursuit until he was pinning her to the bed, and she could feel him pressing against her. “Yes, you were,” he murmured, skimming his teeth over her throat.

A small whimper escaped her lips, and soon they were lost in each other again, dragging each other over the bed and moving around to better get at each other. The sheets on the bed were an absolute mess by the time they took another break. Rickon was letting his fingers wander all over her, and Shireen was basking in the feeling of how it was becoming easier for Rickon to make her completely undone using his tongue cleverly. Her legs were bent over his hips, and he was resting again, though his hands were not.

The day had carried on without them, and they hadn’t the slightest care in the world for anything that was outside this room. As long as he was lost in her and her hands were in his hair, they could be anywhere.

Rickon was pressing kisses all over her scars when her phone started buzzing. He raised an eyebrow in vague interest until it kept going, then his brow furrowed. Shireen stretched out her arm for the phone, seeing who was calling.

“It’s your sister,” she said, moving to respond.

With a whine, Rickon moved the phone away, kissing her more forcefully. “Don’t answer,” he said simply. “She’s going to ask you to go somewhere, and then you’ll have to put on _clothes_.”

The way he said ‘clothes’ made it sound like a word that children weren’t allowed to hear, and he stuck out his tongue for good measure. When she answered the call, he pouted at her before digging his face between her breasts, letting out a series of loud noises. She combed her fingers through his hair and said, “Hey, Sansa, what’s up?”

“Wedding planning,” Sansa said shortly. “When can we get you in for a meeting? I mean, Robb didn’t let me touch his wedding, so yours can still have all my best ideas. Asha wants to talk themes.”

“Tell her that the theme of today is _no clothes_ ,” Rickon mumbled, kissing over her chest.

“I think we should discuss it first,” Shireen said, but not before giving Rickon an eye roll. “Though, I don’t think Rickon is on board for a meeting today.”

Rickon rolled his eyes back at her, and he squirmed around until he had better access to her breasts, kneading them between his hands. Shireen choked back the noise that was building in her throat. “Meetings are so boring compared to this,” he said. Then, he kissed her breasts, letting his mouth open more and more until she was tempted to press him closer against her.

“Um, maybe tomorrow morning, Sansa,” she said quickly. “I’ll text you with the details.”

“My little brother is being stupid right now, isn’t he?” Sansa asked back.

“Not at all,” Shireen said, clipping her last syllable lest another noise escape with it.

Sansa let out a knowing hum into the line. “Tomorrow, then. Text me!”

Shireen quickly ended the call and tossed the phone away without a second thought. Just as she was about to find a way to get closer to Rickon, he moved away. With an exasperated sigh, Shireen said, “Well, don’t stop now!” 

He laughed, grabbing at her leg to pull her closer. Then, he licked a path from her belly button, between her breasts, and up her throat. Shireen felt a strangled breath escape her. The press of Rickon was beginning to move against her in a more and more definite pattern, and he licked at her scars before kissing them dead on. Shireen let out a sigh, full of his love again, knowing that he was here willingly, keeping her happy.

Dragging her fingers up to the nape of his neck, Shireen pulled him over to look him directly in the eyes. She felt a slight chill run through her body when he did, seeing how blown out his pupils were and how his hair hung just in his face, framing him beautifully. She hummed, leaning up to press a brief kiss to him before she slumped back into the bed, tracing her fingers over the line of his hair. “I love you,” she murmured, still feeling like she was jumping from a cliff every time she spoke the words.

He was always there to catch her, though, replying with a full, yet shy, “I love you, too,” before he kissed her fully. Rickon’s mouth was always soft and warm against hers, dragging her straight into the depths of each kiss they shared. Every time, Shireen felt like her heart was ready to burst, but he held her together, keeping her molded to his grasp when he was shaping her mouth so easily with his. 

\--

Shireen was lost staring at her ring. Every time she allowed her thoughts to drift, she caught herself looking at it, watching it glint in the light, and running her fingers around it. She kept thinking back to how Rickon went about putting it on her and how she thought it would never happen. But now, she was stuck in him, lost in the love he had for her and letting her thoughts think through what this ring meant. Slowly, she reached up to twist the ring around her fingers, biting her lip just slightly.

“Are you finished?” Sansa asked.

Jumping away from the noise, Shireen hit the back of her chair. Then, she remembered where she was: sitting in the Stark home while Sansa took notes on her upcoming wedding. _Her wedding to Rickon_. She smiled to herself again, looking down at the ring.

“Shireen,” Sansa said forcefully. She hit the table lightly for good measure. Shireen jumped again, hiding her hand under the table and looking up at Sansa. The red-headed woman was giving her a knowing look, though her mouth was twisted up in a growing smile. “While I’m tempted to tease you about my baby brother, I’d also like to make some progress today.”

Clearing her throat, Shireen nodded along. She wished she had a glass of water to help clear her thoughts, but there was nothing in front of her, so she brushed her hair behind an ear. Sansa rolled her eyes at her, tapping at something on her laptop. Then, she folded it over, showing it to Shireen. Shireen watched Sansa tap at the screen multiple times with the stylus, zooming in and out of certain things and explaining them to her.

They were distracted when Rickon and Margaery came in from the kitchen, carrying glasses of water. Rickon set one down on the table in front of her, pressing a kiss to her cheek and taking a seat next to her. Margaery also joined them at the table, taking the laptop away and scrolling through it.

“So you have a date, a venue, no theme, no color scheme, almost-a-menu, and a partial guest list?” Margaery asked. Her eyes were trained on the screen, flicking around it. Then, she gasped. “And no dress? Honey, it’s been weeks. We need to go shopping. Don’t worry—I know a great designer who can get you in a perfect dress. She did my veil; and we can get you one like it.”

Shireen was steadily getting used to being bombarded by information by the Stark family. She already knew Margaery was like this from her experiences of distant relation to her via Renly and Loras, but they were spending a lot more time together now.

“I can probably get a guest list finalized in a week or so,” Shireen mumbled out. “I still need to tell some people… like my family…”

“Your family doesn’t know?” Sansa interjected.

Ignoring her, Shireen pressed on. “As for a dress, I can probably go shopping for something soon… and get a veil.”

“Don’t get a veil,” Rickon said firmly.

All the women at the table turned to him. They were giving him expressions of mild confusion. Margaery and Sansa shared a look before looking intently at Rickon. “And why not?” Sansa asked.

“It’s traditional,” Margaery said, giving him an equally confused look.

Rickon shrugged, turning to look directly at Shireen. She could see his eyes flickering to her scars. “I just think there’s no need to cover her up,” he said. A small smile grew on his face. “But if you really want one…”

A rush of heat hit Shireen’s face. She bowed her head down, biting her lip. This, of course, was a terrible idea because now she was staring down at her ring. “It’s okay,” she murmured. She automatically went to the ring, twisting it around. “I don’t really care.”

She heard Rickon’s chair scraping against the floor before he grabbed onto her hand and kissed her temple. Aside from the fact that she could hear Margaery and Sansa letting out small groans and rolling their eyes, Shireen was positively floating on the feelings of warmth and love from Rickon. He eventually sat back in his chair and took the laptop from Margaery. Furrowing his brow, he looked over the things listed so far. Shireen leaning over his shoulder and watched him accidentally fumble over a few buttons.

“Shit,” he muttered. His fingers went to the keyboard before he gave Sansa a sheepish smile. “I think I broke it.”

Sansa shook her head at him, reaching over and making the page look normal again with two clicks. “I don’t get it,” she said, handing back the laptop and shaking her head. “You literally work with computers all day, and you play video games a ton. How have you not figured this out yet?”

Rickon shrugged, taking a drink of water. “Not important,” he said. “I just do enough to get by.”

Groaning, Sansa turned to Shireen. “And you’re sure you want to marry him?”

Shireen laughed, placing a hand on Rickon’s leg. His hand met hers quickly, and his thumb brushed over her ring. With a smile, Shireen turned back to Sansa and Margaery. Sansa was still looking a little annoyed, and Margaery looked largely entertained. Then, she turned to face Rickon and tilted her head up to receive a light kiss. “Yeah, I’m sure.”


	14. Chapter 14

The entirety of Shireen’s extended Baratheon family was staring at her with looks of extreme curiosity. The silence was pressing in around her as she slowly forgot the question they had asked. She was starting to feel smaller, shrinking in around from pressure, and she couldn’t even remember the question. Rickon slowly reached out for her, and she jumped slightly at his touch, making him raise his eyebrows in concern. She shook her head gently, trying to reassure him and convince herself that everything was fine.

Rickon cleared his throat gently, continuing to rub at her arms and moving the attention to himself. “He, uh… he didn’t say anything,” Rickon said slowly.

“Nothing?” Loras asked. His eyes went wide as he looked around the room. Myrcella caught his eye and gave a small shrug before reaching out for Shireen’s hand.

Shireen squeezed her hand back, feeling Myrcella’s thumb massaging into her skin.

“Well, if he’s not going to support your wedding than I am!” Renly loudly declared. “Dress, shoes, venue, caterer… I’ll pick up everything!” 

Rickon laughed, throwing his head back. “You really don’t have to,” he said. “My parents have already—”

“I’ll have none of that!” Renly declared. He stood up so quickly, he almost knocked the coffee table over. Tommen reached out quickly to steady it. Renly went on as if nothing happened. “If you’re going to be my new nephew, then I’m going to welcome you into the family properly! Nothing like my brother… Come, darling! I need a word with you.”

He beckoned Shireen over with a quick _come hither_ move of his finger and headed out of the room. She glanced quickly over to Rickon, catching his quick twitch of the mouth and shrug before he looked away. With a small sigh, Shireen followed Renly out of the room. He was waiting for her in the kitchen, leaning over the counter and swirling his wine around in his glass. Shireen kept her distance, crossing her arms over her chest to form a shield. She was preparing herself for the worst.

“You do realize he’s younger than you, right?”

A strange sound fell out of her mouth. Trying to choke out the noise, Shireen rolled her eyes. He was messing with her. “We’re definitely going to get married,” she said firmly, trying to play along.

“I know you are.” Renly pulled her into a tight hug. “That boy is crazy about you, and he makes a fucking good mac and cheese. How could I be angry? It’s your asshole of a father than I’m pissed at.”

Laughing, Shireen pulled Renly into a hug. He clumsily put down his glass and hugged her tightly, lifting her off the ground. Shireen grinned at her uncle, pulling just slightly away from the hug. “He’s only, like, five years younger than me.”

“Ugh, he loves you, honey. I don’t care,” Renly said with a small wave of his hand. He retrieved his glass and took a sip. “I’m still paying for your wedding.”

“Rickon’s parents have…” Shireen started feebly, knowing she wouldn’t get through much.

“Dibs on catering and your dress,” Renly said. “And I won’t take any less. You know it.”

“Thanks, Ren.”

A loud laugh came from down the hall, and Shireen knew that it was Rickon having too much fun with her family. Renly pouted, snagging a bottle of wine and heading back into the hallway with a small, muttered, “Can’t let them have fun without us.”

Following Renly back into the sitting room, Shireen moved back to her place next to Rickon. He gave her a cautious smile, holding out a hand to her. She grabbed onto Rickon’s hand, giving it a squeeze and walking into him to kiss his cheek. He was sitting on the arm of a chair, the echo of his smile still present on his face. Renly let out a loud groan, which caused Rickon to pull her in tighter for a real kiss. Shireen laughed against his mouth, hitting his chest before pulling away.

“So how’s planning going?” Myrcella asked. She leaned back onto the couch, swinging an arm over Tommen’s shoulders. “Inviting any cute guys?”

“Uh, yeah,” Shireen said. “My fiancé.”

Rickon grinned, pulling Shireen onto his knee and holding onto her waist. She smiled over to him before Loras loudly told them to stop making bedroom eyes at each other and quickly grabbed a hold of the conversation.

The Baratheons quickly morphed back into their loud, boisterous natures. They migrated into the kitchen, Myrcella and Shireen taking seats on the counter. Loras was mixing drinks for everyone while Rickon and Tommen prepared platters of snack foods. Renly ran around the house for a while, failing at making the sound system work and pulling out an old pair of speakers. Shireen laughed at him, but she laughed harder when Rickon volunteered to help him and created a bigger problem. Eventually, Myrcella hopped off the counter to fix the problems, and Rickon walked into Shireen. His arms went onto her thighs, and he tilted his head to look her in the eyes.

“I broke it,” he mumbled.

Shireen giggled, reaching out to run a hand through his hair. He smiled at her, and his eyes lit up. At the end of her reach, Shireen let her hand trace down his neck and linger on his shoulder. Rickon’s smile slowly turned into a smirk.

“Are you flirting with me?” he asked. 

Shireen tried to give him a casual shrug. “Obviously.”

“We still have dinner with my parents tonight,” he reminded her. “Stop flirting with me or I’ll have to sneak you off somewhere.”

“And do what?” Shireen asked, teasing him the best she could. She knew that Rickon probably couldn’t tell and didn’t care, but she thought it was funny to see him trying to keep his composure around her family.

“Hey!” Tommen called loudly. “That counts as flirting, and we still have shit to do. Save it for the bedroom.”

Myrcella laughed, skipping over and taking Rickon’s arm. She winked at Shireen before dragging him around the kitchen. Tommen immediately came over, offering Shireen some of the snacks he prepared and pulling her into another conversation. Renly and Loras sprinkled themselves in occasionally, making the entire afternoon far more comfortable than she expected. At least this part of her family was on board with her engagement, even if her mother wasn’t answering any calls and her father was pretending she didn’t exist. She still had family and it was only getting bigger and better.

\--

A few hours later, they were in the Stark family home again. Shireen had been getting more and more excited about spending time with Rickon’s parents especially since they were always quick to tell stories and embarrass their children. Rickon was far less excited, but he was happy anyway, swinging her into empty hallways and kissing her whenever his parents were distracted. She was helping Catelyn prepare after-dinner tea in the kitchen, smiling at the teacups and how perfectly they all matched.

“Oh, it’s a wonder that our youngest is getting married right after our oldest,” Catelyn sighed. Then, she quickly added on, “Not that I’m complaining! I just wonder about all the other ones.”

Shireen giggled. “Well, I think they’re getting on just fine as they are,” she said. “I mean, marriage isn’t for everyone, though you and Ned are still so lovely together.”

“It wasn’t all fun and games, though,” Catelyn said, looking a bit lost in memory as she carried the tea tray out of the room.

Making a quick swipe at the tray of cookies, Shireen followed Catelyn out. She moved quickly to get at her shoulder. “Did you have a rough beginning?” she asked, now spiked with curiosity.

They walked into the sitting room, and Catelyn served the tea. Shireen was making to place the cookies down when Rickon let out a low whine, catching her attention. He had an arm outstretched toward the cookies. Meeting her eyes, he stuck out his lower lip. Sighing, Shireen placed the tray in his lap.

“Hey,” Ned called. “Those are for sharing.”

“I think these are just for me, Dad,” Rickon said. He was spending his time selecting a cookie, looking over all of them before finally grabbing one and taking a bite. He spoke through his full mouth. “And Mom makes the best cookies.”

Shireen rolled her eyes, taking the tray away from Rickon and placing it back on the table. She took a teacup and sipped at the tea. It was piping hot, but as the nights were starting to get colder, she welcomed the heat.

Catelyn slurped at her own cup, turning to her husband. “I was just telling Shireen about our early days,” she said.

With a small sound of approval, Ned nodded. “Brandon?”

“Mhmm.” Catelyn leaned forward to get her own cookie, taking a tiny bite out of it.

Rickon was looking progressively more confused. “You mean Uncle Brandon?”

“That’s the one,” Catelyn said. “Did you know your father and I met at a funeral?”

“Yeah,” Rickon said, straightening up and beckoning Shireen to take a seat next to him.

“It was your uncle’s funeral,” Catelyn said. After noticing the confused look from Shireen, she went on. “We had been dating for a few weeks before his accident. He didn’t recover, and that’s when I met Ned. We didn’t start dating until a couple years later, but both of our families were shocked when we got married.”

“It was a great wedding,” Ned said. “They had nothing to complain about.”

Catelyn sat up quickly, setting down her teacup. “Wait, I think I still have pictures,” she said, scurrying out of the room.

Ned was shaking his head. “A blatant lie,” he told them. “She specifically took out the pictures to show you tonight.”

Rickon joined his father in shaking his head, but Shireen was excited. Catelyn returned a moment later with a large photo album in her hands. It was a lovely white album with embossed script and lace on the cover. Not to mention it was thick. Shireen was certain that her own parents didn’t have anywhere near as many pictures of their wedding. She’d have to make her own well-documented. Catelyn took her seat again (on Rickon’s other side), and Shireen leaned over to look at the album. Slowly, Catelyn flipped through the pages, telling her every detail about each picture and the people who attended. Shireen was absolutely fawning over it, leaning over Rickon’s lap to get a better view.

Rickon’s focus was lazy at best. He was a series of eye-rolls and small scoffing sounds every time his mother mentioned a distant family member that he didn’t remember.

Ned started in the same mindset as Rickon. The two were happily eating cookies until he, too, became engrossed in the fond memories. Shireen watched them recount the many stories of their wedding, laughing and smiling at each other constantly. Eventually, Rickon just moved Shireen onto his lap to give her a better view of the album. After thanking him with a kiss, she went back to asking Catelyn about her wedding. Catelyn and Ned provided as many details as they could, cutting each other off and complementing every story.

They were halfway through a story about how Catelyn’s brother completely knocked over the punch bowl and stained the hem of Catelyn’s dress when the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” Rickon offered. He moved Shireen off his lap and walked out of the room.

“Is your dress still stained?” Shireen asked.

Catelyn nodded, smiling down at the picture of herself putting the hem of her dress on display. “There were several offers to remove the stain,” she said, “but the memory of it was worth it. And the look on his face! He feared for his life! Oh, but it was all right… just another good memory.”

Rickon walked back into the room with Sansa at his heels. She had her tablet tucked into her elbows and was typing up a text message quickly. She let out a sigh and put down her things, taking a seat and grabbing a cookie. “Long day at work,” she said. “But we’ve got everything settled so Shireen can meet a designer tomorrow.”

“I really don’t need a designer,” Shireen said. “I’m sure it’ll be fine without one.”

“Marg is insisting,” Sansa said. She gave Shireen a careful wink. “But we can always work around her.”

“Come have a seat, honey,” Catelyn said, waving her eldest daughter over. “We were just showing Shireen and Rickon our wedding album.”

With a spark of interest, Sansa shot up and went onto the armrest of her mother’s chair. She plucked the album from her hands and started flipping through it. “We should show Arya,” Sansa said. “It’ll probably be the push she needs to finally marry Gendry.”

“Don’t push your sister, dear,” Ned said. “She always moves at her own pace.”

“She’s coming, though,” Sansa said slowly. “And it wouldn’t hurt to _show_ her…”

Sure enough, the doorbell rang again. Sansa sprang out of her seat, dragging Arya into the room despite her father’s warning otherwise. During the small amount of chaos provided, Rickon settled back his seat. His arm went over Shireen’s shoulders, tugging her closer into his side. He held up a cookie for her, and she took a bite, giving him a small kiss afterward.

“You like the album?” he asked, reaching for his cup of tea.

Shireen nodded, watching the Stark women looking through the album. Turning to Rickon, she gave him a hard stare, looking over his unruly auburn hair and cool blue eyes. She was going to be a Stark woman soon. He was going to make her one. Within a couple months, she would be Shireen Stark. A grin spread across her face. Rickon was furrowing his brows at her, obviously confused about her facial expressions. She hugged him closer and mumbled, “I want your last name.”

Rickon laughed, tilting her chin up to kiss her firmly. “Right now?” he asked. “Because I know where the courthouse is.”

Swatting at his chest, Shireen kissed his jaw lightly. “Just… when it happens,” she said. “I want to be a Stark.”

“You’re already a Stark, honey,” Rickon murmured. He kissed her again, momentarily forgetting that his family was in the room and deepening the kiss. She sighed into his mouth, leaning into him and moving her hands over his waist until someone loudly cleared their throat.

Jumping slightly away, Shireen looked down at her lap and Rickon just chuckled. “I thought that was the point of all this,” he said. “Or am I not allowed to kiss my fiancée?”

A bubble of warmth built up in Shireen’s chest, hearing him declare her as _his_. Regardless of the reaction, she went back into his side, hugging him to her. Then, she looked back to his family.

Sansa’s eyes quickly flicked away from them, focusing back on the photo album. “Just stop undressing her with your eyes,” she said. “We’re doing things here.”

“Man, Sans,” Arya said loudly. “You really need to get laid.”

Sansa’s jaw dropped.

“Arya!” both parents said at once. 

Arya, however, just feigned interest in the album. She flicked through a few pages before glancing up at Shireen and giving her a small wink. If anything, the younger Stark sister really knew how to distract her family. She was happily humming to herself as Sansa shoved her shoulder and starting pointing to pictures. The two soon went back to admiring the album, and Arya was joining in on laughing. Sansa’s smile was growing bigger and bigger, watching her younger sister.

“Don’t weddings just make you so happy?” Sansa asked.

Arya nodded along, still looking over the pictures. “It would have been way too much of a hassle, though,” she said. “That’s why Gendry and I just elo— _fuck_.”

Sansa was staring at his sister with a permanently shocked expression on her face. Ned was looking mildly confused, as if he hadn’t just noticed what his youngest daughter said. Catelyn was switching her glance between her two daughters. Excitedly, Shireen turned to Rickon, raising her eyebrows at him and trying to get more information out of him.

“You what?” Sansa finally managed to sputter out.

Then, Rickon began to laugh loudly. Everyone turned to look over to him, giving him equally confused looks. It took a while for him to settle down, eventually just shaking with laughter. He choked down a laugh and looked up at Arya. “Let me guess,” he said. “That road trip you went on after high school?”

Everyone’s attention snapped over to Arya. She looked annoyed, but she gave a tiny, almost imperceptible nod. Rickon exploded into another round of laughter, but Shireen was just thinking that she needed to go ask her cousin a few questions. When the information finally sunk in, Ned, Catelyn, and Sansa started bombarding Arya with questions. Arya was shrinking in on herself, holding up the photo album as if it were a shield.

The rest of the evening was spent with the entire Stark family being thoroughly distracted. Sansa was frantically calling up Robb and Bran and shouting nonsense into the phone at them while she tried to tell them about Arya. Ned and Catelyn spent a very small amount of time being strict with their daughter before demanding that they needed to see Gendry again. Rickon was laughing more than anything, talking about how they should have expected it from her and that he had half a mind to follow suit. Shireen hit him before she joined Sansa in demanding details. After several minutes of prying, Arya admitted that there was no ring because she ate it, which made Sansa horrified until Arya loudly explained that it was a Ring Pop.

 

Hours later, they finally made it back to the apartment and Shireen immediately rounded on Rickon. “We’re setting up Sansa.”

Rickon let out a sigh and took a small step into her. “I am not playing matchmaker for my sister.”

“Yes, you are,” Shireen said firmly. She kissed his cheek before walking into the bedroom. Eventually, Rickon flopped down on the bed, curling around her back and hugging her. “Great. Now, go invite all your cute friends out drinking or something.”


	15. Chapter 15

“Yeah, it didn’t really work out,” Shireen started. She was sitting across the room, chatting with someone on the phone.

Rickon glanced up from the dinner he was preparing, knowing that Shireen was recounting the events of the previous night to one of her friends. In her great attempt to set up his sister on a date, he had begrudgingly agreed to invite his friends drinking, but it had been mostly disastrous. Shireen had flat out disapproved of all of his friends as potential dates for Sansa, though she enjoyed the time spent dancing after they got over the small hurdle that was explaining to them that they were engaged.

Wylla, Lyanna, and Alys had somehow showed up (probably on a tip from Wex), and they had made the largest fuss over his engagement. While they weren’t outwardly disappointed about anything, Shireen had been shooting him knowing looks all night. He had amusingly watched as the three girls badgered Shireen about her ring, and they would not stop talking about how aggressively she had removed another girl from her attempts at flirting with Rickon.

He had spent the night just chilling with his friends who luckily didn’t want to discuss weddings at all. He has just spent the time sharing stories with his friends until Shireen dragged him off to dance. While he still wasn’t that fond of dancing, he tolerated it for Shireen who was super excited. It earned him a fair bit of teasing from Lyanna, but eventually, she and Wylla dragged everyone else off to the dance floor as well.

Rickon glanced up from the tacos he was making for dinner. Shireen was still sitting sideways in her chair, her feet a continuous bounce and she listened to whatever her friend was saying. Finishing up the food, Rickon walked the two plates over to her, placing one on the table in front of her. At that exact moment, she sat up quickly and exclaimed, “What?”

Recoiling from her, Rickon nearly spilled the contents of all the tacos across the table. Luckily, they all managed to stay on the plate, but as far as having tacos went, he’d better off calling it something else.

Shireen seemed oblivious to this turn of events. “You’re _joking_ ,” she said sharply. For a brief moment, she glanced up at him, before she gave her plate a strange look. “Okay, but she didn’t tell _me_? No… but I want to know… Fine, I won’t bring it up… Yeah, I gotta go, we’re having… something for dinner. Okay, bye!”

Rickon had gone to fetch forks and by the time he returned Shireen was staring at her plate in mild confusion. She gave him a smile and asked, “So what are we eating for dinner?”

Clearing his throat, Rickon placed the forks on the table and took his seat across from her. She had just been lounging at the table, so it had made sense to eat there, but now it felt oddly formal given the sloppiness of the plates. “Deconstructed tacos.”

“Okay, you’ve been watching way too much _Chopped_ ,” Shireen said firmly. Still, she grabbed a fork and started eating the bits of the meal. Humming to herself she started to dig in, standing up after a while to get drinks.

Swallowing his current bite, Rickon watched her. She was very obviously keeping something quiet and she also really wanted to tell someone. He waited until she sat down again to ask, “What’s the news?”

Shireen grinned at him but shook her head sweetly. “Sweetie, it’s secret.”

Rickon just rolled his eyes, going back to his meal and refusing to press the subject. This is the better tactic to use in cases like this. It was bound to get to Shireen sooner or later, and he was certain that he’d find out before bedtime.

In the meantime, he filled the space with regular conversation. “Did you tell whoever about the bar last night?” he said.

Shireen nodded. “Honestly, I think last night started as a minor fiasco, but it ended well,” she said.

“Did you tell them that you refused to relive our first kiss in that bathroom?” he said with a grin.

“For the last time, I am not going to make out with you in gross bathrooms,” Shireen said sternly. She ripped off a piece of her tortilla and shoved it in her mouth.

“Our first kiss, Shireen,” Rickon said. “It’s kinda important.”

Shireen made a face at him. “Even when neither or us remembers it properly?” she questioned. “Besides… I like the other one better… the one from the next morning.”

“Not our first date?” Rickon asked, more intent on goading her than anything.

“Is this what married couples do?” she asked back. “Just live their old dates over and over again?”

“We literally went out last night,” Rickon told her. “And we can always go play video games together. You can finally start _Kingdom Hearts 2_.”

Shireen laughed, turning back to her plate. Rickon let the conversation drop, knowing that she was probably distracting herself from whatever news she had received. He was waiting for her to break. She didn’t last the meal. She pushed her plate aside a few minutes later and leaned over the table toward Rickon. She took a deep breath. “Promise you won’t tell anyone?” she asked. “Until you find out normally?”

“Of course, dear,” he said, continuing to eat his food. He was extremely curious as to what was eating at Shireen so much, but he didn’t let on so as to keep her so energetic.

After biting her lip, Shireen settled back in her. She looked around the apartment slowly, as if making sure no one was eavesdropping on them. Then, she looked back to him. “Margaery’s bridesmaid dress doesn’t fit her anymore.”

Rickon couldn’t stop the smile from crossing his face, especially because of the excitement that was radiating off of Shireen. She was grinning with excitement, and it was positively infectious. He didn’t know what to say, though. Was this solely an opportunity to comment on future family members? Or was she maybe opening up a conversation?

Instead of saying anything, Rickon just took their plates to the sink and started cleaning up. After a minute or so, Shireen came up behind him, hugging him about the waist. He felt her pressing her face into his back.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked softly.

“Um. Stuff,” Rickon mumbled back, finishing up the dishes. He turned on the spot, and Shireen looked up at him.

Shireen sighed and tugged on his shirt, pulling him closer. “I know we didn’t talk about it… after… but do you want to?” she asked

“Talk about it?” Rickon asked. He reached down for her hands and pulled them up to his mouth, kissing them.

Nodding, Shireen led him over to the couch and sat down. They were quiet for a long while until she cuddled into her chest. “You’d make a good father,” she muttered, glancing up at him. 

Rickon could feel her eyelashes brushing his chin. “Shireen, it’s going to be your decision,” he said. “I can’t just ask you to do that.”

“But do you want kids?” Shireen asked. She sat up to look at him, leaning over him. “How would you feel about having children?”

Rickon glanced over at her, finally allowing himself to imagine it: the two of them, after a few years, living in their own house, small children with her bright blue eyes and dark auburn hair running amok and causing general mayhem. He tried to stop the smile that was slowly growing on his face, thinking of watching kids, his kids— _their_ kids—grow and learn with their families. Rickon was so lost in the future that he had to take a deep breath before he could meet Shireen’s eyes again. When he did, she had a similar smile on her face, and he thought she might cry.

“We’re getting married in a week,” Shireen said weakly. He could tell that her voice was close to cracking. “After that, we could maybe—if you wanted to…”

Leaning across the sofa, Rickon took a hold of Shireen’s waist pulling her into a firm embrace. He dug his face into her neck, and he could feel her shaking in his arms. Slowly, he pulled away, looking down at her.

“Why are you crying?” he asked softly. He pulled her into his lap, kissing her.

Shireen’s hands fisted into his shirt, keeping him close. He could still feel how wet her face was, but he kept close, kissing her all the while. It took a small bit of coaxing, but after a while Shireen settled onto him comfortably.

“I’ll tell you what,” he said. He scooted their positions around until she was wedged between him and the back of the couch. Rickon squirmed around until he was level with her on the couch. “When you want to have children, you tell me, and I will be ready for it. We can go get lectured by my parents about all the proper things beforehand, and we can go ask Davos how to manage ourselves. My siblings will spoil the shit out of our kids, and we’ll still give them presents and teach them how to be happy and love them more than anything in the world. Because when you’re ready for it, you’re going to be the best mother in the world. And I’ll be with you the whole time: watching your belly grow, carrying you to bed, massaging your feet for you, holding your hand the whole way through. Regardless of what you want, I will be there for you, but I can’t lie and just say that the idea never occurred to me. After all, you’re my future, Shireen. And if more people get added to that equation, I would be ecstatic.”

Tears were streaming sideways off Shireen’s nose, and she was sniffling against his chest. He could feel her entire body shaking, and he reached over to smooth her hair down. Shireen rubbed at her eyes, wiping away her tears. Then, she stretched forward and kissed him gently.

“I love you,” she murmured.

Rickon smiled, watching her trying to compose herself. “Jeez, I can just imagine how teary you’re going to be at the wedding,” he said. “Crying all over the place while I’m just trying to become your husband like a normal person…”

“Shut up,” Shireen said, curling into him. She lifted her head to kiss his jaw. “But if you’re going to keep randomly making speeches like that, then I’m going to make you give a speech at the wedding.”

Rickon laughed. He tucked his arms around her to press her tighter against his chest. “Oh, I will,” he said. “And if Bran somehow gets past his Best Man speech without mentioning our almost-one night stand, then I might have to kill that bird before people find out halfway through the reception when he’s drunk.”

“Oh gosh, my whole family is going to figure out that we slept together before our wedding night,” Shireen murmured, only slightly horrified.

“How is that any better than everyone thinking I’m going to fuck you that night?” Rickon asked, genuinely curious. “I mean, we get to dress up and look all fancy, and then I can rip your dress off you later that night and—”

“If you ruin my dress, I will kill you,” Shireen threatened.

Rickon groaned. “When are you ever going to wear it again?”

“No hurting my dress.”

“Fine,” Rickon conceded. “But you’re going to be my wife. And I’m going to love you forever.”

“Our wedding’s in a week,” Shireen murmured, slightly dumbstruck.

Rickon nodded. “Then, you’ll never be able to escape me.”

Shireen looked up giving him a small glare for a few moments. Rickon swallowed hard watching her, wondering if he maybe went too far. However, Shireen just kissed him before curling up into him with a small, muttered, “Good.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the tardiness of this update! I had to do a lot of research for it and I got distracted... However, to set the mood, I was listening to [this](http://asthebelltolls.tumblr.com/post/124950423105/dapperpea-xstephaniejarax-play-this-at-my) for most of my time writing this chapter.

The span of the room seemed shorter and shorter every time Rickon turned. He was pacing. Honestly, with the nerves running through him, he was shocked that he hadn’t simply bolted from the building and eloped by now. Weddings were such a huge fuss, and he hoped that at the very least Shireen was having a good time right now. He didn’t even know where she was. Bran had taken his phone and shoved some form of alcoholic beverage in his hand. Rickon couldn’t stomach it, though. He felt like all his nerves had been wrung out and that he was going to collapse at any second.

“For the last time, sit down,” Bran commanded. He was comfortably seated in a plush white chair, obviously resting for his brief stint to the front of the room later. “Gods, you make me glad that I can’t walk properly.”

“Sorry,” Rickon rushed out, moving over to a chair next to his brother and slumping into it. He jumped up immediately, smoothing out his tux and unbuttoning it before sitting down again. Moments later, he was back on his feet, pacing the length of the room again.

Bran groaned loudly as the door opened.

“Well, you certainly look ready to go,” Gendry said, laughing loudly.

“He’s been pacing for a solid thirty minutes,” Bran told him.

Rickon frowned. “I sat down!”

“Ten seconds doesn’t count,” Bran shot back.

Gendry looked between the two brothers before shaking his head slightly. “Well, I hear it from the other party that it’s almost time,” he said, pushing back his sleeve and checking his watch. “Do you want to head down now or—”

“Now,” Bran decided for him. “ _Please_ , he’s killing me.”

Rickon just shook his head, trying to make sure he still had everything he needed. He was dressed, he was here, he wasn’t running away… After a minute, he sighed and turned to the door. Gendry had his eyebrows raised at him. “Okay,” Rickon said. “I’m ready.”

Walking next to Bran, Rickon half-supported his brother and led the way. They were getting married in a small forest clearing with a convenient hall nearby for their reception. Rickon wasn’t particularly concerned with either of these details, except that he had to watch where he was going in order to keep himself and his brother upright. There was a loud hush of murmurs as he went to take his spot, sitting Bran down on a chair. Then, he took a deep breath and looked around at all the gathered guests.

His entire family had come, though quite a few of them were in the wedding party and running around trying to fix last minute things before everything started. Rickon took his place, trying to look calm, regardless of how he was feeling. What if Shireen didn’t show up? What if everything went wrong? What if they weren’t actually getting married and this was just a crazy hallucination his brain constructed? Rickon forcibly swallowed the thoughts and tried to focus.

This was his wedding. He was getting married. Shireen was going to be his wife.

That thought alone sent a wave of calm through his system. He was here. This was happening. And he was going to get through it, if only for Shireen. Taking deep breaths, the calm finally hit him fully. Everything would be perfect today. It had to be. Shireen deserved that.

A distant part of his brain registered the fact that music had started playing somewhere. It took him longer than it should to realize there would be music. Of course there would be music. But he couldn’t remember seeing any sort of speakers in the clearing. He eventually located someone playing a harp behind all the guests, and he smiled to himself. Shireen definitely wanted a fairy tale wedding, and she was going to have it. By the time he refocused on the wedding procession, his sisters were already walking toward him at a slow, leisurely pace.

Rickon craned his neck just slightly in a small attempt to find Shireen. There weren’t very many places to hide here, but she completely escaped him. Looking back to Arya, he saw that she was grinning at him, though teasingly so. Sansa, on the other hand, already looked like she was about to cry. Rickon tried to give her a reassuring smile, but that only proved to make her eyes become more watery. Then, Myrcella came down the aisle, looking cool and confident the entire time. She had a different sort of expression on her face, and Rickon realized that they were all staring at him. They wanted to see his reaction to Shireen.

Gulping down a swallow, Rickon turned away from the bridesmaids. They were making him even more nervous, and that was not helping. He tried to compose himself when the music changed key. He froze. That was the cue. That was the marker that meant his bride was coming. His bride. _Shireen_.

Rickon looked up just as Shireen stepped into view. She looked almost ghostly in her pure white dress. Then, he realized that _ghostly_ was an ill-fitting word. It didn’t suit her. She was positively radiant, emphasized more by the browns and greens surrounding her. She was ethereal. She was perfect. It wasn’t until Shireen was halfway down the aisle that Rickon started to gain back his senses. He was having a hard enough time looking away from her, and he didn’t know what else he was supposed to do. Rickon licked his lips, suddenly feeling like his throat was dry.

Shireen was smiling at him, and he realized that she had yet to look away from him, as well. He briefly wondered how she hadn’t fallen yet, and his smile spread wider. Once she was close enough, Rickon took an involuntary step forward. Behind him, he heard Bran clear his throat loudly. He fucked up. With a small giggle, Shireen just held out a hand to him. Rickon took her hand eagerly, stepping closer to her. Before he could stop himself, his other hand reached up for her face and he kissed her. Shireen let out a small gasp against his mouth, but she leaned into him, holding out her bouquet so it didn’t get squished between them.

Someone behind them scoffed, and there were a few giggles from the crowd, sprinkled through with a few annoyed mutterings. Finally, he pulled away gently, biting his lip through his smile. Shireen was grinning back at him, looking thoroughly amused. Rickon suddenly realized that this was not part of the plan.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

Shireen laughed outright. She gripped onto his hand and tugged him into position. Rickon went willingly, glad to be facing away from their guests while his face was bright red. 

“If the bride and groom are ready to begin, then,” the officiant said pointedly. The standard pace of the wedding resumed; he recognized the beats of it from his brother’s wedding. Rickon tried to pay attention, but he kept getting distracted as he continuously snuck glances at Shireen. On one look, Margaery caught his eye, and he looked away before she could give him one of those knowing smirks. However, he looked back at Shireen soon after, and she was looking back at him.

The blue of her eyes somehow looked both brighter and darker than usual, and Rickon wanted to kiss her again. She gave him a small smile before looking forward again, but she inclined her head onto his shoulder. Rickon resisted the urge to wrap an arm around her. He still had her hand, though, so he absently began kneading circles into it as the officiant went on.

Then, Shireen turned to face him squarely, and Rickon knew he had to pay attention for this. Shireen had been particularly secretive about her wedding vows for the past few days, leading to quite a few chases through the apartment, and he was eager to see what had her so worked up. She took a deep breath.

“Rickon Stark. When I first met you, I had no idea who you were,” she began.

Rickon tried his best not to be snappish now. He wanted to mutter out a ‘because you were drunk’ or maybe just start laughing. Shireen was trying equally hard to keep her composure, and she also looked like she was going to laugh. She prepared herself and went on,

“I may have stumbled into your arms during the most troubling part of my life, but you were always there for me. You cared for me long before I could reciprocate your feelings, and I am eternally grateful that we have come together for this. For as long as I live, I will love you, I will care for you, I will protect you. With you, I can be brave and strong and—”

Tears had suddenly sprung into her eyes. Shireen took a small step away, waving at her face to get rid of them. Reaching out for her, Rickon lifted a hand to brush away the tears with his thumbs. He muttered out a small _it’s okay_ , but she sniffed and pressed on.

“You’re my best friend, Rickon. I can tell you everything, and not once have you looked at me like I deserved anything less than the best. You’re—it’s you, Rickon. You’ve given me more than I ever dreamed of, and I don’t even want to imagine a life without you. I vow to love you, to hold you, to have you, to protect you, to cherish you, to care for you, and to keep you happy until I have nothing left to give. I promise you my life, Rickon, because I love you.”

If Rickon wasn’t absolutely positive that he was supposed to say something in return, he would have kissed her right there and then. Instead, he clasped onto Shireen’s hand tighter, watching as she slowly dealt with the new wave of tears that was assaulting her. She took a moment, but Rickon waited it out. Shaking herself, she turned to face him again, straightening her back, and he couldn’t help but feel like she was challenging him.

“Shireen Baratheon,” he started slowly. Then, he cleared his throat. “I just want you to know that that is the last time I will ever give you that surname.”

A few titters from the audience made their way to him, and he heard a few reprimanding scoffs. Ignoring them, he went on,

“Because I knew exactly who you were when I first saw you—because when I first saw you, you were punching someone in the face. And did I want to make your acquaintance after that. I’ve always known who you are, Shireen. You’ve never hidden from me or pretended that I wasn’t going to listen to you. You are a smart, beautiful, strong woman with the brightest mind and you have been nothing but amazing from the moment I met you. I’ve been in love with you since then, whether or not I knew it. And I can never tell you how excited I am to be here today because if it wasn’t for you, I’d never be here. Oh, hey—”

Rickon had been watching the steady play of emotions on her face the entire time, and tears had just begun to stream in earnest down her face. Shireen seemed completely unaware of it, looking at him through watery eyes, and he didn’t know what to do to help. Someone tapped his shoulder, and he turned quickly to see Bran holding out a small square of fabric. Taking it, Rickon turned back to Shireen, wiping at her eyes and cleaning off her tear-stained cheeks. She sucked in a breath before nodding at him, asking him to go on.

“I love you,” Rickon said firmly. “I love you exactly as you are because it’s _you_. So whether it’s tonight, tomorrow, or sometime in the future, I will love you, and I am going to do everything in my power to make you feel like the most beautiful person in the world.” He leaned in until he was right next to her ear and whispered, “Because you are _you_ , and one night stand or not, I’d have still searched the entire earth for a chance to ask you out.”

Before he could stand up straight again, Shireen reached around his waist, holding him close and hugging him tight. Rickon breathed in a deep inhale, returning the hug, though he was careful to keep her perfectly done up. When Shireen was finally breathing steadily, she pulled away from him gently. Offering her the same bit of fabric from before, Rickon watched her clean her face again. She finished up and looked at him again, another smile on her face.

Then, Bran was tapping his shoulder. Rickon blindly gave him back the fabric before he realized that Bran was trying to give him the ring. Grasping onto the box, Rickon turned to Shireen, who was now hiding something in her fist. He moved first. “Shireen,” he said, watching her light up when he took her hand. He pressed the ring onto her finger, rubbing his thumb over it. “With this ring, I wed thee.”

Shireen grinned at him, snagging his hand and sorting through his fingers. “With this ring,” she said, wiggling out a complementary silver band. She slid it onto his finger and looked him straight in the eye. “I wed thee.”

“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the officiant said. “And _now_ , you may kiss the bride.”

Rickon knew beyond a doubt that the remark was for him, but he didn’t dwell on that. He had a wife to kiss. _He had a wife_. Smiling down at Shireen, Rickon leaned in slowly until their lips were together. Somehow, it was the best kiss they had ever had. Rickon couldn’t remember a time when he had ever wanted to keep kissing her so much. Shireen seemed to have the same idea; he felt her move into him, deepening the kiss and pressing her chest against his. Moving a hand to her waist, Rickon slid his hand up her back, holding her firmly to him and responding eagerly to their kiss. It was done now. She was his, and he was the luckiest man in the world.

Shireen moved just slightly away from him, a smile etched on her face. Her arms were folded up between them, and Rickon was holding her there, refusing to let her move further away. Her smile only grew wider until she leaned forward and pressed a light kiss to his lips. Grinning, Rickon bent down and swept her up in his arms. Shireen let out a small squeal, grabbing onto his shoulders for support. Rickon nudged her up slightly, freeing his hands from the skirt of her dress, and began his walk down the aisle, thinking that he would find a secluded room somewhere to share some time alone with his wife.

No one stopped him on the way out. Rickon assumed that this was because they thought he knew better than to keep going until they were out-of-sight. There was a heavy round of applause, but Rickon only had eyes for the woman in his arms. Shireen was smiling back at him, tucking herself further into his chest.

“So we’re married now,” she mumbled.

Sparing a glance down, Rickon made his way into the building, thinking that he remembered a place where they could hide. “We are,” he replied, turning slightly to get through the doorways. He spotted the door to his waiting room and made his way over, grinning the whole time. “How does it feel, Mrs. Stark?”

Her fingers had made their way to the nape of his neck, gently moving through his hair there. Shireen hummed, stretching up to kiss his throat. “I like it,” she murmured.

“Me, too,” Rickon agreed. He finally made it into the room, walking in to deposit Shireen on the long, low couch. She looked slightly confused as he placed her down and went back to the door. He looked into the hall briefly to make sure that no one had seen them before gently shutting the door and locking it.

“Rickon, we’re supposed to go take pictures,” Shireen told him.

“We will,” Rickon said, crossing the room to sit on the edge of the couch. He placed his hands over her waist, making small movements over the smooth fabric of her dress. Shireen sucked in a breath, oddly propped up. Smirking at her, Rickon followed the seams of the dress up her sides, playing with the small folds in fabric. “So I think it’s a bit obvious, but were you trying to look like a princess?”

Shireen rolled her eyes at him, slumping down onto the couch. “This isn’t even a princess dress,” she told him.

Rickon chased her down, pressing kisses across her exposed throat and collarbone. He felt Shireen’s hands slowly move onto his back, trapped between the layers of his tux, and he shrugged out of the jacket quickly, flattening himself against her. “I forgot,” he mumbled. Then, he leaned down to kiss her firmly. He slanted his mouth over hers, and her hands fisted over his back. _This_ was what he was waiting for, a chance to have Shireen in every sense of the word, to be lost in her, and feel like he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

Letting out a small moan against his mouth, Shireen leaned up into him, kissing him fully. After a while, she started laughing. Rickon pulled away slowly, giving her a questioning look. She cleared her throat lightly. “Are we a little past the age of sneaking away to make out?” she asked.

“No,” Rickon snorted. “On day, we’ll be all old and wrinkly and I will still sneak you away to make out with you. And you, wife, are going to like it.”

“I’m sure I am,” Shireen hummed, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him closer.

Unfortunately, their time alone didn’t last long. Soon, people were pounding on the door, yelling at them to come out. Rickon grumbled, digging his body between the back of the couch and Shireen’s body. She held onto him loosely, stroking his hair and pressing kisses to his forehead. Rickon rolled over so he was facing her. He had a strong feeling that his face was going to hurt from smiling so much today, but things could be worse. “Can we keep hiding?” he asked.

“We could,” Shireen said slowly.

He met her gaze steadily, watching her resolve regarding the day ahead. Then, he stretched up slowly and stood up. Shireen swung her legs off the couch, twisting her skirt about her ankles. Picking up his jacket from the floor, Shireen shook it out before handing it to him. Rickon took it back, sliding his arms into it and trying to fix it. He had a hard time managing it, and when he thought he looked acceptable again, Shireen wouldn’t stop giggling.

“Come here,” she said, reaching up his chest and dragging him down by the lapels. He went willingly, kneeling in front of her. With slow, sure movements, Shireen adjusted his collar and tie before straightening out his shirt and jacket.

Then, Rickon helped her to her feet, picking her up entirely, and letting her skirts right themselves. He set her back down with care, unable to see her feet, and started picking his way through her hair, trying to right her few stray curls. Tucking them back into her hairstyle as best as he could, Rickon finally let her take his arm and they walked back outside.

Half the bridal party was waiting for him there, most of them looking amused, but a few of them looked annoyed.

“Did you not get the schedule, buddy?” Margaery asked sharply. “You’ll have plenty of time for all of this on your honeymoon, but you gotta hold back for one day.”

“I quite literally _just_ got a wife,” Rickon told Margaery, waggling a finger in her direction. “And I’ll keep her all to myself if I want.”

Margaery looked a little furious, but Arya pulled her away quickly, letting Sansa take over. “We just want some pictures, Rickon,” she said. “Don’t you want something to remember your wedding day by?”

“I thought that’s what my wife was for?”

“Rickon,” Shireen said, gently tugging him away. 

He turned to her, remembering that today was her day more than his, so he relented, letting his family drag him around for pictures. For every picture that they had planned on taking, there were at least five where he or Shireen were not paying attention or goofing off. During one of the lulls, Shireen started rubbing at her arms, so Rickon gave her his jacket, kissing her gently. A loud snap of shutter brought him back, and he turned around to glare at his sister who was dictating to the photographer. During his attempt to tell her off, Shireen jumped onto his back, throwing him completely off-balance.

“Goddammit, woman!” he swore loudly, trying to keep her up properly. She just giggled loudly, leaning over his shoulder to kiss his cheek.

The picture-taking continued in this manner for the next hour. Shireen seemed just as distracted as he was, though she composed herself for the formal pictures, looking just as beautiful as always. Rickon had a hard time standing still. He was itching to be close to her again, wanting to keep her near for as long as he could. After they were finished, Rickon and Shireen waited patiently for their turn to walk into the hall for their dinner.

He and Shireen sat down in a nearby loveseat, Shireen half in his lap, and they waited out the slow dispersal of the wedding party, ensconced together on their seat, almost oblivious to the reception going on in the other room. However, Shireen pulled him to his feet for their entrance into the hall to overwhelming applause. Shireen’s grip was tight on Rickon’s arm, and he leaned against her as they walked to their seats. He knew that the cause of her nervousness was in the reception. Typically, the father of the bride had a role to play here, undoubtedly due to old customs of giving away daughters, but that didn’t settle Shireen’s mind during the planning. Her father had never even replied to the invitation after the many attempts to call him and visits to his house. His father had agreed to take up the role after Davos refused; saying that he couldn’t take the part in good faith knowing her father was still alive. Rickon helped Shireen into her seat, watching her huff a bit as Ned stepped forward to welcome everyone and thank them for coming.

Dinner was served and the noisiness of the crowd shot up again. Rickon enjoyed his meal with Shireen at his side, despite how often they were interrupted with people asking them questions and generally just being crazy. He had made a small effort to keep Bran away from the alcoholic beverages, but Bran was being supplied by Jojen, and stories were already starting to spill from his lips. He leaned over to Shireen. “How long do you think it’ll be before he starts telling everyone we had a one night stand?” he asked

Shireen giggled. “Well, there’s not much they can try now,” she said. She lifted up her drink and held it out to him. “We’ve already sealed the deal.”

Leaning over his chair, Rickon made to kiss his wife again. Shireen smiled against his mouth, holding his jaw lightly. Then, they finished up the meal with the banter of the wedding party surrounding them. The instant that the dishes were cleared, people started swarming them for even more pictures, and Rickon sat through them as patiently as he could, holding onto Shireen the whole time. He was fixated on her, as he’d come to expect as normal. She was absolutely stunning tonight, and he was floating on the pure euphoria of the day.

When they were shoved onto the dancefloor together some time later, Shireen turned into him gently, holding out her hands. Rickon placed them properly, wondering how much of a formal dance he could fake. However, he needn’t have tried. Within the first thirty seconds of the song, Shireen wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing up against him. Letting both of his hands slide down her back, Rickon held her against him, swaying to the rhythm of the music. He attempted to spin her around the floor, but she only moved some.

Near the end of the song, Shireen tipped up onto her toes and kissed his cheek. “I love you, Rickon,” she whispered.

Rickon turned to face her, finding her lips to kiss her fully. “I love you, too.”

She let out a heavy sigh, hugging him tight as the song ended. “Alright then,” she breathed out. “Time to find your dad.”

Kissing her gently, Rickon turned her around, moving her to face his father. The entire Stark family stood behind him, all watching them eagerly. With slow, steady steps Shireen walked to Ned, asking him for a dance. Rickon grinned watching them, and he felt a firm hand on his shoulder. Turning toward the feeling, Rickon sought out whoever was trying to get his attention. He froze mid-turn, his jaw dropped open, as Stannis Baratheon strode past him toward Shireen. Across the floor, Ned declined Shireen’s dance with a small smile, and Shireen’s face fell just slightly. She looked expectantly at the other Starks, who now all wore knowing smiles. Then, Stannis gently tapped her shoulder, and Shireen turned slowly.

She burst into tears immediately, rushing forward to hug her dad and be pulled into his firm embrace before he prepared them for their dance. Shireen couldn’t stop smiling the entire time, despite the tears falling from her eyes. Rickon grew more and more distracted watching them, seeing Shireen’s absolute joy at having her father present.

He was entirely unprepared for his mother to come stand next to him. “Aren’t you supposed to ask me to dance?”

“Probably,” Rickon said. He tore his gaze away from Shireen to look at him mom. She gave him that look of resigned love that he’s so used to, but she looked ready to cry, so he ignored it. “Would you like to join me?”

Catelyn gave him a warm smile, taking his proffered hand and walking with him out to the floor. The next couple of hours were filled with dancing. He switched partners a multitude of times, always trying to make his way back to Shireen. They managed it a few times, but they were quickly pulled apart for more questions and pictures and dances. Sansa and Arya took turns bringing him drinks throughout the night, and he accepted all of them. Apparently, being dehydrated was one of the primary parts of having a wedding.

Rickon only just managed to pull Shireen away from the dancing, when she started asking him about having cake. “I know we only just ate,” she said, “but I’m really hungry.”

“You just want cake,” Rickon shot back, pulling her against his chest in their small reprieve from responsibilities.

“Cake is delicious,” Shireen countered, tapping his chest forcefully. “And everyone loves sugar.”

He gave her an easy look. Her chest had been flushed from all the dancing, and she was looking more than a little tired. Placing a hand on her cheek, Rickon leaned in to kiss her forehead. “Alright, then,” he said, seeing a grin spread across her face. “Let’s go get you your cake.”

Shireen practically skipped through the crowd over to where the cake was standing. It was a massive, white contrast to the dark grey tablecloth, and Rickon knew that Renly had sacrificed himself in trying out every single type of available cake to pick the best one. Grabbing onto his hands, Shireen pressed into him, resting her head on his shoulder as she stared at the cake.

“Sugar,” she said firmly.

Rickon laughed, picking up the large knife and brandishing it before him. Sticking out her tongue at him, Shireen placed her hand over his and forced him to put the knife back on the table.

“Thank you, Shireen,” Sansa said loudly behind them. Her hands were on her hips and she was staring down at Rickon, even though he was taller than her. “I swear, my baby brother just doesn’t respect having pictures taken.”

“If I take frosting from the back, no one will ever know from the pictures,” Rickon pointed out.

“I will!” Sansa insisted, moving in front of them and positioning them for the poised cameras.

Listening to his sister, Rickon stood patiently as she set them in place and re-adjusted Shireen’s hair. As she walked back to the crowd, Rickon stuck his finger through the frosting and held it out to Shireen. Before she even had a chance to laugh, Shireen licked his finger clean, grinning at him before kissing him again. Stifling her laughter, she turned back to the cameras for a few pictures before Rickon took up the knife again. This time, he waited for Shireen to be settled against his chest before they sliced into the cake together. With both of them trying to make it work, they were a bit shaky, but Shireen just relaxed her hand over his and let him do the work. Once a slice was cut out, Rickon grabbed a fork and filled it with a large bite of cake, holding it out to Shireen. She grinned at him before opening her mouth to accept the bite. As she chewed through it, she made her own for him to have, feeding him like a child. Laughing, Shireen turned around to hide the slice of cake, continuing to eat it herself.

“That’s my cake, too!” Rickon called, lifting her about the waist and carrying her back to their seats. She complied to give him a few more bites, but she ate a majority of it by herself. As their guests enjoyed the cake, Rickon and Shireen shared a few more frosting-filled kisses. Shireen went so far as to lick the excess frosting from the edges of his mouth, laughing at how messy he was.

“We should get more cake,” Shireen said firmly.

Rickon glanced over to the table. Of the massive wedding cake they had, only a small portion of it had been dug through. “We’re going to have three leftover cakes to deal with after this,” he told her. “I don’t think you have to worry about having cake.”

“I thought we were honeymooning after this?” Shireen said. “So shouldn’t we eat the cake now before it spends a week in the refrigerator?”

“My gods, woman, I’ll buy you another cake,” Rickon said. “Stop worrying about it.”

Shireen smiled warmly at him, leaning onto his arm once again. “So I just have no more worries, huh?”

Rickon tilted his head toward her. “The only thing you should be worried about is how I’m going to get your garter off of you.”

Her face immediately went a deep red. Shireen opened her mouth to say something, but no sound came out. She gaped at him for another minute before she mumbled out. “I didn’t wear a garter.”

Laughing, Rickon brushed back a strand of her hair that had fallen. “Lies,” he muttered. “I think you’ll enjoy it, though.”

Before she could argue the case further, Myrcella stepped forward calling everyone to the dance floor for the garter toss and bouquet toss. Shireen stood up backing just slightly away from Rickon. Smirking at her, Rickon ran forward. He grabbed her by the hips, pulling her up into his arms to carry her over the chair placed in the center of the dance floor for the proceedings.

“Hands only,” Shireen snapped at Rickon, glaring at him as he set her down. He shook his head gently. Shireen huffed at him. “My dad’s here.”

Rickon shrugged lightly. “My entire family’s here,” he retorted, “and I’m still going to take of your garter with my teeth.”

“You are not,” Shireen said firmly, placing a hand flat on his chest.

“Oh, honey, it’s just a preview of what’s to come.” He winked at her, slowly kneeling down in front of her skirts. “Then, tonight, we can have some fun.”

Face completely flushed red, Shireen looked somewhere caught between wanting to strangle him and wanting to ask for more. Rickon chuckled at her. Slowly, he bowed himself down to venture under her skirts finding his way through the many layers of fabric. He gripped onto her legs just above her ankle, high enough so no one else knew where his hands were but also as a reminder to Shireen that his hands were not part of the equation. Pressing into her legs as much as possible, Rickon dragged his nose over her, separating her knees to place himself fully between her legs. He imagined that Shireen was red as a tomato, flushing and swearing at him under her breath. Still, he slowly went up the inside of her thigh, letting his tongue flick against her skin there. He felt her flinch under that touch, and he smirked against her leg before pressing a light kiss there. Then, he dug into her leg, hooking the garter on his canines and slowly dragging it down her leg. Just before leaving her skirts, he dropped the garter from his mouth and finished the task with his hands, letting her skirts slide off of him slowly.

Shireen’s mouth was twisted to the side, watching him intently as he grinned at her. He stretched the garter out between his hands. Then, he flicked it at her. “Found it,” he said.

“That’s not for me,” Shireen said. Off to the side, a group of bachelors were slowly grouping together under the command of Sansa and Arya. Retrieving the garter, Rickon flicked it into the group, not bothering to see who caught it. He immediately turned back to Shireen, kissing her fully.

“Your turn,” he said.

Giggling at him, Shireen waited for Myrcella to return her bouquet before standing and calling for a group of bachelorettes to gather. Standing off to the side, Rickon watched as Shireen made a small spectacle of turning her back on the bachelorettes and tossing it. She didn’t even turn to see who caught it before she turned back to Rickon. “Ready,” she said lightly, smiling at him.

Chuckling, Rickon grabbed onto Shireen’s hand and pulled her close. “We’ve come a long way from that one night stand,” he said, leaning down to kiss her. 

Laughing, Shireen pulled away from him. “Let’s go say our goodbyes and steal some cake,” Shireen said, leading him through the crowd.

“It’s _our_ cake,” Rickon said. “We can take the whole thing if you want.”

“I do,” Shireen said firmly, making him laugh again.

They wove their way through the crowd, saying goodbye to all of the guests and spending far too long taking even more pictures. Finally, they were in the back of a car on the way to their house.

“Hey,” Rickon said, tugging on his jacket that was now over Shireen’s shoulders. She turned to him with a soft hum, looking up from her spot against his chest. “We’re going to a house. Our _house_.”

“Yes, we are,” Shireen said. “And with any luck, the last few days we spent out of the apartment were enough time to let Sansa finish decorating.”

Rickon laughed at her. He had no idea how she could be concerned with decorations when he wasn’t even planning on turning the lights on. Sure enough, they were dropped off at their new house. Rickon retrieved the keys from their driver and carefully escorted Shireen up to the front door.

“I feel a little weird,” Shireen mumbled.

It was dark out, and Rickon was entirely unaware of the time, though he suspected it was long past midnight. He glanced over to her, unlocking the door. “Why’s that?”

Shireen raised her eyebrows at him. “I’m in a wedding dress, in the middle of the night, in a nice quiet neighborhood,” she told him. “It’s weird.”

“Well, I can get rid of that dress soon enough,” Rickon said, smirking at her. Shireen hit his arm gently, trying to edge past him into the house. Placing an arm across her shoulder, Rickon stopped her. “That’s my job,” he said. Then, he scooped her up into his arms, walking them both over the threshold. “Welcome home, wife.”

Giggling in his arms, Shireen leaned back to nudge the door close and lock the door. “Thank you, husband,” she said. “Now, I’d like a bath before bedtime.”

Rickon laughed, carrying through the house to their bedroom. Sansa had gone above and beyond in the preparations: hundreds of candles were lit around the walls of their room, leaving it in a low, warm glow. Shaking his head slightly, Rickon placed Shireen onto the bed. “She’s going to burn the house down,” he muttered.

Shireen glanced around, leaning off the bed slightly to check for something. Then, she tossed his jacket to the floor before kicking off her heels. “They’re all on non-flammable surfaces,” she told him, “and they’re perfectly stable. Now, get over here and kiss me.”

Loosening his tie, Rickon obeyed, kicking off his shoes in the process. He pressed Shireen into the mattress, rolling over her and kissing her fully. His hands were a continuous movement over her body, digging their way to her back in order to seek out the closure of the dress and finding nothing. Rickon sat back, frowning. Shireen was idly unknotting his tie and working at the buttons of his shirt. She was smiling even though he was frowning at her.

“How the fuck do you take this thing off?” he asked.

She laughed, sitting up and presenting him with her side. Rickon tried to lurch forward for the zipper, but Shireen stopped him, grabbing onto his wrists to free his arms and finish removing his shirt. Rickon sat back, waiting for her to finish before kissing her back into the bed and slowly unzipping her dress. He slid it off of her body as carefully as he could, making sure to place it onto the floor evenly before jumping back over her and kissing her everywhere. Shireen giggled under his kisses, letting him roam over her body before she went back to undressing him.

Rickon laughed against her mouth, placing his hands flat against her stomach before leaning back slightly. “I thought you wanted to take a bath,” he mumbled.

“I can wait,” Shireen said. She grinned at him, pulling him down for a deep kiss.

Rolling them onto their sides, they slowly finished up undressing each other. Shireen doesn’t stop kissing him the entire time, pulling him close and pressing herself against him. Deciding that it’s far too late and they’re far too tired to draw this out all night, Rickon helps Shireen up to the pillows before going to dig through their new bedside table for a condom.

Shireen blushes when she sees the source of his distraction. She opens her mouth to say something, but Rickon stops her with a light kiss.

“We’re only having kids when you’re ready,” he tells her firmly. “No more scares.”

She’s much more enthusiastic about kissing him, then, pulling him directly over her and nearly crushing her body with his weight. He drops his jaw to get at her better, kissing her until he’s lightheaded from the weight of everything that’s happened today and the knowledge that she’s his wife forever now. Without breaking their kiss, he gets over her, spreading her legs apart and pressing into her gently. Rickon almost forgot that this isn’t their first time, that they met because of an almost-one-night-stand, and they’ve been sleeping together for nearly a year. Still, it felt like the importance of this was greater than any of their previous times, and he relished in being with her now as much as he did their first time together. Shireen met him thrust for thrust, keeping their pace slow and sweet. She pressed kisses all across his collarbones, sucking gently on his neck.

Sliding his hands to her back, Rickon brought her to his chest as he sat up. She yelped slightly holding onto him by the shoulders. Moving up into her, Rickon slowly worked at letting her hair loose, pulling out bobby pins with careful fingers. He lost his pace a bit, but Shireen kept them going, moving over his hips and letting him complete the task. Once he finished, he let his fingers drag through the length of her hair. She hummed under his touch, continuing to set their pace faster. Leaning her back, Rickon began pressing into her, increasing his tempo and kissing at her breasts.

“Oh, _fuck_ ,” she breathed out. Rickon felt her legs tightening around his hips, drawing him in. He was tempted to repeat her words back to her, but he was having trouble doing anything except keeping himself from ending this too soon. Shireen was too close for that. Her nails were digging into his chest, and he could feel her teetering on the precipice. She was a sting of incoherent mumbling, and Rickon continued in his efforts, letting the pressure in himself release and keeping them going until she was limp in his arms, her feet dragging across the surface of the bedsheets. He gingerly placed her back down, watching her hair pool beneath her.

With slow movements, Rickon left the bedroom, going to run the water in the tub and beginning the process of blowing out some of the candles. He left a few burning so they could get back to bed later, and he picked Shireen up and carried her straight into the warm water. Shireen held firmly onto his neck, lying over his chest.

“Can you just carry me for the next few days?” she asked. “My feet really hurt.”

Rickon chuckled, splashing the water over her and beginning to scrub over her body. “Anything you’d like,” he said, kissing her neck. “Anything thing for you.”

“Sleeping in the bathtub?” she suggested.

“We have a perfectly good bed,” Rickon told her. He started moving his hands through her hair, making her moan.

“Just keep doing that,” she said. “And I’ll make it back to the bed myself.”

Rickon laughed, kissing her in the soapy bathwater. “You won’t have to. I’ll carry you.”

“Good,” Shireen mumbled.

She was mostly limp in his arms the rest of the time, only helping him wash his own hair, though he suspected that it took longer that way. Still, they managed to finish up their bath, and Rickon carefully worked on getting them both out without causing harm to either of them. He completed the task by sitting on the edge of the tub to dry them off as best as her could before carrying them back into bed. Shireen only complained when he left to blow out the candles and securely shut all the curtains. Then, he climbed into bed with her, not wanting to know what early hour of the morning it was. He just knew that he’d gladly sleep the day away with her in his arms, and he’d have that for the rest of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How I've been imagining [Shireen's dress](https://41.media.tumblr.com/b1278374bae04d3c7287366a90a3de3b/tumblr_nu7fd5QghQ1sysqcjo1_540.jpg), for the curious.


	17. Chapter 17

The sun was high in the sky when Shireen was finally pulled away from the depths of her sleep. The comforting heat of Rickon was still pressed against her back, the weight of his arm resting over her waist. His breathing was even and deep against her neck, and she could feel the small tightening of his muscles around her as he moved about in the bed, pressing against her before relaxing again. Turning slightly, Shireen yawned, seeking out a look at her husband their first morning together. As always, Rickon looked peaceful in his slumber, his face entirely at ease with his messy auburn curls falling over his forehead.

Smiling to herself, Shireen sought out his hand that was hidden under her pillow. She felt him lazily press a kiss to the nape of her neck when she took a hold of it, her fingers entwined with his as she angled his hand to get a closer look at his wedding band: a simple silver ring that matched the silver of hers. After pressing a kiss to his fingers, Shireen eased her way out of bed, stretching both arms up to the ceiling.

She felt massively dehydrated, and she immediately made for the kitchen to find some water. Feeling too strange to walk around her house naked, Shireen located Rickon’s dress shirt from the mess of clothing on the floor and put it on. Then, she walked slowly to the kitchen. Everywhere in the house, it was dim and Shireen could see the tell-tale signs of light trying to enter. It was definitely long past noon.

Filling a glass with water, Shireen glanced around the kitchen, seeing a small scrap of paper and a bag on the counter. As she reached out for the paper, Shireen drained the water quickly. She walked over to the window to read the neat writing on it.

_I chanced a sneak into your house when no one answered after I rang the doorbell seven times. I’m just assuming that you haven’t already left on your honeymoon without your things, so I’ve left them in the bag for you._

_Let me know before you leave the country,_

_Sansa_

_PS. I left you cake in the fridge, Shireen._

Letting out a sharp gasp, Shireen ran for the fridge. Inside was a full, in-tact layer of her wedding cake. It took a grand total of two minutes for Shireen to properly serve herself a slice, and she dug into her reward happily, snagging the bag from the counter and returning to the room. Rickon was still soundly asleep, though he was now sprawled out on his back.

Shireen emptied the bag out onto the bed and shoved another piece of cake into her mouth. Out of the bag came their phones, wallets, and all the other things Sansa had stolen from them right before the wedding. Shireen took them all to place on the bedside table, placing her empty plate there when she finished. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Shireen stretched up again, feeling how tense her muscles were from the previous night. Digging her fingers into her hair, Shireen pulled out a few tangles. Her hair was piled on top of her head when she felt a small tug on the back of the shirt.

Rickon was still bleary-eyed and full of heavy limbs as he reached up for one of her half-fallen arms. He gave her a sleepy smile as he pulled her back down to the pillows. Giving him a warm smile, Shireen allowed him to press her onto her back. His hand was flat over her belly, and his fingers had found her skin under the fabric of his shirt. Moving his hand to her side, he half-rolled over her.

“You should wear that more often,” he mumbled. He pressed his lips to her collarbone, pushing the shirt aside with his nose. Dropping kisses up her neck, Rickon slowly came to, climbing up over her. He pressed a light kiss to her lips before following it with five more. “Seriously, how do you look so sexy wearing my clothes?”

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Shireen pulled him down for a deeper kiss. She could feel his hands working over her to push open his shirt. Rickon pressed up onto his forearms, leaning their foreheads together.

“Do you want to tell me why you taste like sugar?” he asked, grinning at her.

“Only if you want to stop taking off all my clothes,” Shireen responded.

“ _My_ clothes,” Rickon corrected. He squeezed his arm between the mattress and her back. He firmly gripped her hip before rolling them over, holding her against his chest. Then, he eased off the shirt entirely. “And I can wait on the food.”

\--

Hours later, they were finally fully awake and moving around the house just as the sun was setting. Shireen had fed Rickon a piece of cake while they got dressed and checked their multitude of missed calls and unread text messages. Rickon was only in his jeans when Shireen pulled open the curtain, showing the last remnants of the sunset.

“We spent the whole day in bed,” she laughed. Still, she pulled on a jacket over her dress, flicking her hair out over her shoulders.

“It’s not the first time,” Rickon reminded her, leaning over to kiss her neck. His arms were firmly over her stomach, pressing against her fully.

Reaching back to run her nails through his hair, Shireen cradled his head gently. She tapped impatiently at his cheek. “Hurry up and put a shirt on,” she told him. “There’s only cake in the fridge, and as much as I love cake, I refuse to have it for three meals in a row.”

“So what?” Rickon asked, moving away to tug his shirt over his head. “We go eat and come back for more cake?”

“Exactly,” Shireen confirmed, twirling into him and kissing his jaw. “Or we can just demand food from someone else who has some cake.”

Rickon didn’t bother to stop his eyes from rolling. “Are you really that convinced that my family stole cake?”

Shireen purses her lips tight, stepping forward to poke him hard in the chest. “I am _positive_ that your family has some of my cake. Renly, too, probably… but he isn’t likely to cook for us today.”

“Why’s that?” Rickon asked. He stepped into his shoes, snagging her car keys of the bedside table.

“He’s hungover,” Shireen said bluntly. “With as much as he had to drink last night, he probably spent a longer time in bed than we did.”

Rickon snorted. “Probably didn’t have as much fun, though.”

Shireen hit him across the chest, giving him a disapproving frown. “Our marriage does not give you permission to make blatant sex jokes around other people,” she told him.

“You’re the only one here, honey.” Rickon grabbed her around the waist, lifting her up to kiss her. He set her back down briefly before picking her up again, swinging her into his arms. Shireen held onto his shoulders, balancing herself.

“I’m not wearing shoes, dear,” she told him, bouncing her feet.

Rickon chuckled, carrying her through the house and out the front door. “You don’t need them. I’m carrying you around everywhere, remember?” He kissed her nose before leaning over to allow her to lock the door. “Now, we just need to go convince my parents to feed us.”

Shireen giggled, pressing a kiss to his neck as he led her down to her car. Sansa had obviously driven it over for them, probably when she dropped off her their things earlier. Rickon very careful balanced them while kneeling down with Shireen in his arm, giving her access to the door for her to unlock and open. With some effort, Rickon placed her on the seat. He even went so far as to buckle her in and close the door. Shireen wouldn’t stop laughing the entire time, especially as she watched Rickon cross the car and get in himself. He buckled his seatbelt and leaned over to kiss her, snatching the keys away in the process.

“So where to?” he asked.

“Mmm… your parents’ house,” Shireen said. “I have a feeling they’d appreciate the company more than your sisters would.”

“As you wish, wife,” Rickon replied. He drove through the growing darkness. Shireen tucked herself in the seat, leaning over the armrest to grab onto his arm. The soft music from the radio filled the small cab, and Shireen easily pictured the rest of her life spent in similar comfortable lulls. They pulled up to the Stark house not long later, and Shireen was pleased to see that the lights were still on. Rickon tsked at her when she made to leave the car on her own, so she waited patiently in her seat from him to cross the car again. Not wanting him to struggle with picking her up again, she half-stood on the seat, making him turn around to give her a piggy back ride.

He laughed at her, but he allowed her to climb up. Bouncing slightly against his back, Rickon walked them up to the front door where Shireen leaned over him to ring the doorbell. Leaning his head back, Rickon turned slightly to kiss her cheek.

“Can we have wedding night part two later?” Rickon asked.

Shireen dug her chin into his shoulder, turning to kiss his temple. “Only if you say nothing about part one to your family,” she said, winking at him.

“I swear that’s all you think I do. When have I ever been that crass?” he asked back. Shireen giggled at him, squeezing her arms over his chest. She didn’t want to tell him that she expected his few comments to suddenly be more explicit and frequent. Instead of goading him about it, she just kissed his neck while they waited for the door to open.

A minute later, Arya appeared, yelling behind her about something. She turned to face them and flinched backwards. “Out of the house?” she asked. “I’m surprised… Most people just run off for the honeymoon full of sex right after the wedding.”

Shireen half-hid her smile, turning to look at Rickon. He shut his eyes tight, and Shireen could hear his inaudible groan. Apparently, the only issue here would be restraining his self from retaliating. He just pressed past Arya with a simple greeting, carrying Shireen forward.

The Starks had apparently been in the midst of serving dinner, and his entire family had shown up. Shireen grinned at the full table, knowing that she was now fully a part of it. Before they could announce themselves, Arya ran past them, screaming, “Newlyweds in the house!”

The entire table turned as one until to face them, and Sansa poked her head out from the kitchen. Shireen could hear the clatter of a large plate being set hastily down on the counter. Then, Sansa’s red hair was flying out behind her, and she enveloped the two of them in a hug. “Oh, how was the house?” she asked. “Do you like everything? Does it look nice?”

“Easy, Sans,” Robb said, pulling away his sister. Rickon carefully set Shireen down, turning to accept a handshake from Robb. “Besides, they probably didn’t even make it out of the bedroom. I know I didn’t…”

From the table, a massive snort came from both Bran and Jojen, while Margaery stood up and said, “ _Robb!_ ”

“Speaking of which,” Robb pressed on loudly. “Since Rickon decided to deign us important enough to leave his house for, now is a great time to tell you the news…”

Catelyn came out of the kitchen, carrying a massive platter of food that she set down on the table. Brushing off her hands on her apron, she untied it from behind her neck, leaning onto her husband’s chair. “What news?” she asked.

Robb gave Margaery a hard look. “Honey?” he prompted.

Rolling her eyes, Margaery stood up from her seat and walked over to Robb, giving his shoulder a light shove. Then, she turned to the room. “Well, I wasn’t going to say anything because it’s these two’s time to be special,” she started. “But… I’m pregnant.”

The room erupted in noise. Shireen immediately went over to hug Margaery, rocking her slightly. Sansa and Catelyn immediately joined in the hug, bombarding her with questions about her pregnancy. Rickon grabbed Shireen away from the bundle, leaning down to whisper in her ear. “There’s definitely cake in the fridge, but I thought you were hungry.”

“Marg had news,” Shireen protested. “And we’ll get to the food.”

“Yeah, but you already knew,” Rickon said.

“You knew?” Margaery asked loudly. “How? I didn’t tell anyone!”

Shireen felt her face flush a bright red, and she followed Rickon over to take a seat. He started serving them. “Well… Loras called to tell me about your bridesmaid dress,” Shireen admitted. “He sort of let everything spill.”

Shaking her head, Margaery took a seat, prompting everyone else to sit down as well. “I swear, I’m never telling Loras about anything ever again.”

Everyone laughed, continuing to pester Margaery with questions, and Robb made several loud remarks about being asked about his role in the process. Rickon quickly filled his mouth with food, then, carefully avoiding eye contact by staring at his fork. Shireen caught the small movements, turning to him and slowly twirling her hair around her fingers. Grumbling, Rickon continued picking at his food.

Once the meal was finished, Rickon turned to Shireen, running a hand over his face. “I swear: you planned this.”

Giggling, Shireen leaned over to kiss him. “I just happen to know your family,” she told him.

“ _Our_ family, dear,” Rickon corrected. “Or do you need everyone to address you as Mrs. Stark before you realize that you’re one of us now?”

Across the table, Bran laughed loudly. “And how are the Mrs. Starks feeling today?” he asked. “Or are there too many of you to manage?”

“Wait,” Sansa said loudly. She held her hands up for emphasis. “Isn’t Arya a Mrs. Waters?”

With a loud exaggerated groan, Arya stood up, scraping the legs of her chair against the floor. Shireen glanced over to see Ned rubbing at his eyes – a sure sign of stress. Arya looked ready to start a fight, but Gendry grabbed her wrist firmly and pulled her back down. “Actually, we both kept our names, mostly because she didn’t want to tell anyone,” he said evenly. Arya deflated a bit, stacking up some plates to take to the kitchen.

“You are part of the family, though,” Ned said. He shot a look at his youngest daughter’s back. “And I wouldn’t mind having another Mr. Stark around.”

“Oh my god,” Jon groaned, leaning across the table. “There are too many of you guys. Please, just stop.”

Jojen laughed, giving Jon’s shoulder a comforting pat. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll just make Bran a Reed.”

“Fuck that,” Bran replied. “You’re joining the Stark crew whether you like it or not.”

“And what’s wrong with being a Reed?” Jojen shot back.

“Maybe Robb should’ve taken the Tyrell name,” Margaery mused.

Sansa groaned, helping in cleaning up the table. “You guys are making such a huge fuss,” she said sharply. “Seriously, I’m glad I don’t have to listen to this bickering for every couple I plan a wedding for.”

Arya grinned at her, skipping back into the room. “I don’t think any other family is as dysfunctional as ours,” she said, taking a stack of plates from her sister. “You’ll just have to marry to dissociate from us.”

Sansa’s jaw dropped open. “And change all my branding?” she asked. “I don’t think so!”

Shireen giggled, watching the family bicker. The conversation had very easily split into three that melded together seamlessly before breaking apart again. No one seemed to notice, though, and they were almost consistently talking. After a while, Shireen felt a tap at her shoulder. Catelyn was standing there, beckoning her to the kitchen. Giving Rickon’s shoulder a light squeeze, she followed her mother-in-law into the other room.

“They’ll be at it for a while,” Catelyn explained, placing all the dishes into the dish washer. Shireen rushed over to help, but Catelyn just stood up to get a good look at her. “Where did your shoes go?”

“Oh, um, last night I asked Rickon to carry me everywhere, and he thought that meant I don’t have to wear shoes,” she explained, handing Catelyn a dish. Shireen crossed the kitchen to get out a container for the leftovers, scooping everything in a heap.

Catelyn was chuckling behind her. “Oh, my silly boy,” she muttered. “He’s still a child, isn’t he?”

Shireen laughed. “He is,” she agreed. “But I can’t really imagine him any other way.”

“Oh, you won’t have to,” Catelyn told her. She finished up the dishes before pulling out more. “And I hope you don’t mind, but I stole some cake from your wedding, would you like some for dessert?”

It took a great effort for Shireen to stop herself from being overly excited. “I’d love some,” she replied. “Should we serve everyone?”

Catelyn opened the refrigerator, pulling out a full layer cake that obviously sat on top of the one Shireen had. She set it on the counter before getting a knife and forks. Shireen set about slicing the cake and making several plates while Catelyn made coffee and tea. A part of her was expecting questions about new life with Rickon, but Catelyn seemed to know better than to ask. They served the cake to an excited crowd at the table, though Shireen shoved off her duties on Rickon so she could eat sooner. Laughing, Rickon accepted the task, finishing up serving dessert.

“So Rickon,” Bran called loudly. He tossed his fork down and let it clatter on his plate. Everyone turned to face him. “Where are you taking Shireen for your honeymoon?”

“Oooo…” Margaery hummed. “Where, indeed? Robb and I—”

“I’m not telling you guys because I haven’t told Shireen,” Rickon explained. “And I am not going to ruin the surprise.”

Margaery and Sansa shared a conspiratorial look and said together, “We’ll get it out of him.”

“Oh, fuck,” Rickon muttered. Quickly, he bolted out of his chair, as Sansa and Margaery stood up to chase him around the house. Nearly everyone else at the table started laughing, though Robb was attempting to restrain his pregnant wife from running around. Shireen just giggled, digging into her cake.

“Don’t you want to know where you’re going?” Jon asked, leaning over the table.

Shireen just shrugged. “I’m sure I’ll figure it out when we get there.”


	18. Chapter 18

They had already been on the road for hours, waking up early at Rickon’s request and driving out in the early morning. Shireen had attempted to take a few naps, knowing that she wasn’t getting any answers until they were much closer to the destination. On the road so far, she had already annoyed Rickon by changing the radio repeatedly, climbed around the car three times looking for toys, eaten a few of their snacks, and tried to nap twice. Now, Shireen was just killing time, wondering if the trip would have been easier flying.

“How much longer is this drive going to be?” she asked, staring out the window. Her feet were up on the dashboard, her toes bouncing to the music that the radio was left on.

“So impatient,” Rickon chided, reaching over to muss with the hem of her dress.

Shireen sat up sharply, leaning over the armrest. “You didn’t even let me bring cake!”

Rickon laughed, almost completely ignoring the empty road to look at her. “You could have bought some when we stopped for gas.”

“Gas stations don’t have good cake,” Shireen defended, crossing her arms at him. She looked out to the empty road, wishing for something to keep her attention. “And it’s so boring…”

“Well, there’s only about two hours left driving,” Rickon told her. “And I told you to take a nap or something.”

“I tried,” Shireen said, flopping down over the armrest. “It’s just so boring.”

She stayed slumped down until Rickon freed his hand and lifted her off the armrest. He moved it up, freeing their rarely-used middle seat. Shireen watched him with mild amusement until he tapped his leg, grinning at her.

“There,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Now you can lie down and have a pillow.”

Shireen gave him a smile, scooting over to kiss his cheek. “Oh, you are worth something as a husband.”

Laughing, Rickon grabbed her jaw, kissing her fully until she hit him away.

“You’re driving!”

“There is literally no one on this road,” Rickon groaned. He reached over for her again, but Shireen dodged away, going down onto his leg. Rickon’s hand immediately went to her hair, combing through it in slow easy motions. Shireen hummed, digging her nose into his thigh. She felt Rickon chuckle at her, but she stayed on his leg, even if sleep refused to come.

It was easy just to enjoy the lull of the car when she was awake. The odd beats and bumps in the road were still annoying, but Shireen got to stare up at Rickon as he drove. She made herself comfortable over his legs, watching his driving habits as he went. A few times, he would just lift an arm up, resting it on the ceiling, but for the most part, he was relaxed the entire time: leaning back in his seat, only just resting his hands on the wheel… Shireen couldn’t even feel any shift in his leg when he sped up. It was much more interesting to have the ride at this angle, but she still thought it could be better.

Trying to act like she was just moving about in her sleep, Shireen eased her hands around his hips, turning in to face his stomach. Rickon rubbed at her shoulder, but a quick glance up told her that he was still focused on the road. As slowly as possibly, Shireen worked at the zipper of his pants, hoping he wouldn’t notice anything. The button was slightly harder to manage, but she eased that off after a few minutes. Rickon was still driving as if nothing was wrong, and Shireen plotted out her next move.

Trying to not draw attention to herself, Shireen slipped a hand into his pants, but Rickon immediately stiffened.

“What are you doing down there?” he asked. He pulled her hair back to get a better look at her.

Shireen huffed. “You’re supposed to keep your eyes on the road, dear,” she said, fumbling with his pants. “And I’m bored.”

Rickon’s laughter rang out, making Shireen frown at him. He squirmed about to help her, and then smiled out at the road. “Maybe I should let you get bored more often,” he said. “Or take you on more road trips.”

“Please don’t,” Shireen said, wrapping her hand around him.

“We do have to drive back,” Rickon reminded her. A small groan escaped him as she pulled him out.

Shireen rolled her eyes at him, moving her hand all over him. She focused on moving around him, and Rickon’s hand fisted in the back of her dress. Scooting up over him, Shireen licked over the length of him, making him groan. She felt the car jolt forward. Frowning, she looked back up at him.

“Eyes on the road,” she said firmly. “You need to drive safely.”

“I swear I will,” Rickon said breathlessly. “And if you keep going, I’ll never let you get bored again.”

“Oh, deal,” Shireen said quickly. She moved up over him, sliding him into her mouth and running her tongue everywhere it could reach.

Rickon shuddered loudly, and she felt his leg tensing as he tried to keep his speed even. The road was completely empty, though, so Shireen decided that distracting him couldn’t end that poorly. Drawing him deep into her mouth, Shireen swallowed around him before pulling him out slowly. She carefully worked her other hand under his shirt, digging her fingers into his hip. Flicking her tongue over him, Rickon sucked in a tight breath. Again, his fingers combed through her hair, pushing it away from her face. Shireen glanced up at him, and he quickly looked away. Giggling, Shireen continued her way over him, moving her hands to build up the pressure in him.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Rickon muttered out. His knuckles were tight over the wheel, and Shireen had a feeling they were losing speed.

She pulled away, keeping her hand moving. “Sweetie, we have somewhere to be,” she told him. “And I’d prefer not to be late.”

“I know,” Rickon whimpered out. With a lot of effort, Rickon brought the car back up to speed, and Shireen moved back over him.

Shireen took her time with the movements, making them devastatingly slow over the length of him. The pulling and sucking and rocking over him made Rickon swear almost repeatedly under his breath. She smiled to herself in satisfaction, slowing down before finally speeding up. The car jolted forward again, and she paused briefly. While Shireen was thinking about telling him off, Rickon lightly rocked up into her.

“Please,” he murmured. “Gods, I’m—”

Rickon never finished his sentence. It was lost to a strangled gasp as Shireen pulled him entirely into her mouth, finishing him off. She had a feeling he was staring at the speedometer the entire time, bent on trying to keep his speed even. His breathing was heavy when Shireen pulled away. She sloppily tried to fix his pants, not wanting to move from his lap. Rickon ran his free hand over her side, squeezing the soft flesh of her waist. He hummed gently, glancing down at her.

“I think it’s good that our shenanigans haven’t stopped now that we’re married,” Rickon said, smiling back to the road.

Shireen snorted. “What happened to sneaking me off for make-out sessions?” she asked.

“We’re still gonna do that, too,” Rickon said definitively. “Hell, I’d do it right now if I thought you wouldn’t get mad about it.”

“You’re driving!” Shireen countered, sitting up.

Rickon reached over for her, pulling her close for a deep kiss before letting her go. “Exactly,” he said. Taking his hands off her, Rickon fixed his pants, pulling them back over his hips and closing them up. Shireen giggled at him, watching him try to right himself while driving.

“I guess this means we shouldn’t have kids, huh?” she asked, leaning back over onto his shoulder.

“Why’s that?” Rickon asked, stretching over to kiss her forehead.

Shireen shook her head, sneaking looks up at him. “They’ll get all your bad driving habits,” she said. “And it’ll be harder to sneak away from them once they get curious.”

Rickon laughed. “Glad you know you have so much faith in me,” he muttered. “But I’m happy sneaking you away for now. At least there won’t be any prying eyes where we’re going.”

“Which is?”

\--

The cool, crisp air whipped through Shireen’s hair, sending it out in rolling tendrils behind her. She sighed, leaning over the railing just as a new spattering of sea spray shot up. Reaching a hand out, Shireen let the salt water cover her fingers. With a grin, Shireen leaned back onto the railing, looking down into the water. A hand landed on her hip and the cold press of a glass accompanied it. Standing up, Shireen looked over her shoulder just as Rickon pressed up behind her, holding out a drink to her. He aimed the straw in her mouth, and she took a long drink. Shireen hummed, turning into him.

“So tell me again how you knew I liked boats?” she asked, grabbing onto his collar and sliding her fingers up his jaw.

Rickon grinned at her, leaning in and pressing their foreheads together. “What, I can’t be psychic?” He waggled his eyebrows at her.

Shireen rolled her eyes at him, moving her drink to her mouth and sucking on it.

He winked at her, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “I actually asked,” he said. “Not you… Davos. It was his idea. He told me that you used to love sailing with him.”

“Oh, I do,” Shireen agreed. She leaned back over the rail, tipping backwards far enough that Rickon panicked and reached for her waist, pulling her back.

“You just became my wife,” he reminded her. “I’m not going to lose you so soon.”

“Or ever?” Shireen prompted, pressing into him.

Rickon grinned, pressing their mouth together sloppily. “Well, you’ve already abandoned our room to stand out here.”

“This isn’t even sailing,” Shireen told him. She looked out over the massive cruise liner they were on, raising her eyebrows at Rickon.

He shrugged. “Company bonuses and discounts,” he explained. “I’m just going to keep using them to take you out. I mean, I might stop when we have kids, but you don’t seem too keen on that.”

“I thought you wanted to keep making sex eyes at me across the house?” she asked. “And waking me up with _interesting_ methods?”

Rickon laughed, kissing her again. “We probably shouldn’t tell anyone about all the places we’ve ruined in that house,” he mused. “My parents might not be too happy about it.”

“Honey, I don’t think you want to open up that bag of worms,” Shireen told him, finishing her drink and grabbing him by the hips. “But there’s a nice room we can ruin for someone else.”

Throwing the drink back, Rickon reached back around Shireen, digging his cold glass into her bottom. She yelped, jumping further into him. He grinned at her, catching her mouth again. “And here I thought you liked the ocean more than me.”

Discarding their glasses as soon as possible, Rickon scooped Shireen into his arms, walking her back into the ship and into the spacious room for newlyweds. He unceremoniously tossed her onto the bed, pulling off his shirt as soon as possible and unbuttoning his jeans. Shireen grinned at him from the bed, scooting backwards into the headboard. Crawling over the bed at her, Rickon yanked her forward by the hips, forcing her onto his lap. Struggling a bit, Shireen wrapped her legs around his waist.

Rickon let out a low growl, slipping his hands under her dress and digging his fingers into her hips. He leaned forward and bit at her neck. Shireen went back, giving him more purchase. Her hands slowly slid up his arms, resting at the nape of his neck and stroking through his hair there.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have kids,” Rickon murmured, bending her over and scattering kisses everywhere. “We shouldn’t give this up anytime soon.”

“What?” Shireen asked, carding her fingers through his hair. “You don’t want something to stop you from undressing me?”

“Exactly,” Rickon agreed. He slowly started pulling up her dress. “Please tell me that you’re not wearing a bra.”

Shaking her head at him, Shireen sighed, letting his hands roam over her body. His fingers dug into her hips, and Shireen let out a moan. “Oh… Kids would ruin this, wouldn’t they?”

Rickon frowned at her, stilling his hands. “Are we actually talking about kids right now?” he asked, leaning back slightly. “Or am I just going to fuck you?”

Shireen raised her eyebrows at him. “ _Are_ we talking about kids?” she asked. “I thought we were supposed to enjoy our honeymoon stress free?”

“You’re the one who brought it up,” Rickon said. He grabbed the hem of her dress, pulling it completely off of her. Shireen yelped when he pushed her back into the pillows. “But we can always save that conversation for later,” he added on, leaning down to bite at her neck.

Humming, Shireen stretched up into him, sliding her hands into his hair and pulling him closer. Rickon complied, moving down between her legs and resting over her chest. His fingers skimmed down her legs until he hit the last remaining scrap of fabric on her body. Shireen squirmed a bit, hooking her toes into the waistband of his pants. With quite a bit of effort, she worked them off his hips, making him laugh at her. Swatting him away, Shireen pushed Rickon onto his back and crawled down to get him entirely unclothed with her hands.

“Was it too hard the other way?” Rickon asked, smirking at her.

“Well, you didn’t manage it _this_ way,” Shireen pointed out. She slowly traced around her hips, tugging at her underwear until they slid down her legs on their own accord. “So…”

“Get over here,” Rickon called, leaning forward to grab her by the hips. Shireen yelped, but Rickon just pulled her over his body and kissed her fiercely. He rolled her over to switch their positions, bracing an arm behind her head and fisting her hair. His other hand slid between her legs, and Shireen pulled him closer. She hooked a leg over his hips, making him grin. Kissing him, Shireen rolled her hips forward, intent on getting him completely undone.

With a strangled gasp, Rickon pulled away from her. He kissed her a few times before leaving the bed to dig through their luggage. Shireen groaned, rolling onto her stomach and watching him. “Really?” she asked.

“I brought condoms for a reason,” Rickon said, pulling one out and heading back over. “We need to use them if they’re going to work.”

Shireen sighed, slumping back into the bed as he managed it himself. “Is there a reason you hide them, though?” she asked back. “We’re in a honeymoon suite. They already know what we’re doing in here.”

Rickon winked at her, licking his lips slowly. He climbed onto the bed to sit over her legs. “I guess I still think I’m going to get in trouble for this.”

“We’re married.” Shireen twisted around to give him a skeptical look.

“Yeah, I know,” Rickon said. One by one, he moved her legs apart and sat down in between them. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy this stress free.”

\--

Shireen sighed, breathing deeply as she rested over Rickon’s chest. His fingers swept over her back, making soft, swirling patterns. Snuggling closer to him, Shireen reached out for his shoulder, walking her fingers up his neck and across his chin. Rickon chuckled lightly. He combed through her hair before looking down. Glancing up, Shireen caught a smile that she quickly returned.

“So do we have to leave this room?” she asked. She clasped her hands over his chest, resting her chin over them. “It’s quite nice in here.”

“While I’m tempted to agree, we are stopping in some nice foreign cites, and Sansa has specifically asked that I bring her back some wine from Dorne,” Rickon told her. “But aside from getting out and seeing things, I wouldn’t mind spending our entire honeymoon like this.”

“Like what?” Shireen asked, raising as eyebrow at him. “Naked and on top of each other?”

“Exactly,” Rickon said, laughing. He leaned down to kiss her forehead. “We can get cultured, though. Even visit that old school where Arya demanded to go.”

“Which school?” Shireen asked.

Rickon shrugged. “Some place in Braavos,” he said. “It’s our last stop. She still talks about how good the seafood is over there.”

Shireen grinned at him. Leaning back over him, Shireen hugged him closer, resuming their cozy lethargy of cuddling and relaxing on the third day of doing nothing at sea. She was fully at ease when her phone rang from across the room. Ignoring Rickon’s grumbling, she slowly climbed out of bed and retrieved it.

“Hello?” she said, answering the call only slightly confusedly. Her phone wasn’t sure who was calling.

“Hello,” a formal voice responded. “May I speak to Ms. Shireen Baratheon?”

“Yes, this is she,” Shireen replied, turning around to give Rickon an odd look. He returned it before slumping into the pillows. Focused on her husband, Shireen almost didn’t realize that the call was for an interview at the publishing house she applied to months ago. With renewed enthusiasm, Shireen gave Rickon a grin as she planned out a date to go in for the interview. He smiled at her, which was instantly distracting, but she managed the call just fine.

“We look forward to meeting you then, Ms. Baratheon,” the woman on the phone said.

“Thank you so much,” Shireen replied. “I’ll see you then.” She hung up the call, absolutely elated that for once in her life, everything was going right. Grinning at Rickon, she found his gaze far more scrutinizing than she was expecting. She opened her mouth to tell him the news, but he cut her off.

“Stark,” he said.

“What?” Shireen replied.

Rickon gave her a knowing look. “That lady on the phone kept calling you a Baratheon,” he said. “And you’re a Stark now.”

“Oh, right,” Shireen said. She grinned at him. “I guess I’ll have to tell them that good news when I go in for my interview.”

“Wait, seriously?”

Shireen’s grin grew wider. She fell onto the bed, and Rickon’s arms immediately went around her. “Yup,” she said. “And it sounded a lot like I already got the job.”

“My, my,” Rickon mused, running his hands over her. “However shall we celebrate?”

Swatting Rickon’s hands away, Shireen sat up, suddenly spiked through with desire to prepare for her interview in a week. She was nearly out of the bed when Rickon snagged her wrist and pulled her back.

“We’re not even home,” he reminded her. “None of your stuff is here. Your work clothes definitely aren’t here, and we have a honeymoon to finish.”

With a sigh, Shireen sat down, slinking back into his arm. “You’re right,” she said. “I’ve just gotta learn to relax about it.”

Rickon smiled at her, pressing kisses to her cheek. “Here’s what we’ll do,” he said firmly. “You’re going to set a reminder in your phone for that interview…” He waited until the task was complete until he went on. “You’re going to remember to tell them that you’re a Stark now, _and_ you’re going to have to find a great story to cover up the fact that you just took a life-changing phone call completely naked.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is happening for quite a few very good reasons.

Domestic life was far better than Rickon ever expected. While he had already been living with Shireen for close to two years, there was something about just _knowing_ that he was married to her that made everything infinitely better. Rickon felt like he had somehow boarded the best ship ever. He spent a good majority of his days just watching her around their house, seeing her walk around on her tiptoes and settle into chairs. With her new job, she was always reading something or another, and while Rickon wasn’t entirely sure what she did for work, he was content just watching her.

Shireen cleared her throat gently. She stood opposite the counter from him, leaning onto it. When she smiled, Rickon leaned forward to kiss her.

“I love you,” he said.

Shireen giggled. “I love you, too,” she replied. “Now, you know your birthday’s tomorrow.”

Rolling his eyes, Rickon walked around the counter. He grabbed Shireen by the hips, pulling her flush against him. “You better not be telling me that you’re getting me some crazy present,” he told her. “Because you know that nothing’s ever going to top you.”

Placing her head on his shoulder, Shireen ran her hands up his arms. Very slowly, she brought them around his neck to hug him closer. “Even so,” she started slowly, “I know that there’s something you’ve always wanted.”

“You?” Rickon guessed.

Shireen scoffed. “We only met a couple years ago,” she reminded him. “How could you have _always_ wanted me?”

Rickon scrunched his face up in thought. “I’m pretty sure that I wanted you for all of my life,” he said. “I just didn’t know it until I woke up with you in my arms. Just like a miracle.”

“Aside from that,” Shireen went on, moving past him into the kitchen. She opened up the refrigerator and started taking out things for dinner. “I thought about making it a surprise, but your sister insisted that it’s not a particularly good surprise. So… do you want to come with me tomorrow to get it?”

Rickon raised an eyebrow, moving into the kitchen to help Shireen. “How does that make it less of a surprise?” he asked.

“You’ll get to pick it,” Shireen said firmly.

“And you’re certain that I want it?” Rickon asked.

“Absolutely,” Shireen said. “You’ve told me twice.”

“ _Exactly_ twice?”

Rickon spent the entire remainder of the day guessing at what his present could possibly be. Shireen answered all of his guesses with firm negatives, though she laughed at a few of his more outrageous guesses. Even as they prepared for bed, Rickon was relentless. He poked at her with even more attempts at figuring it out, moving away from physical items to other things. Rickon knew that it was going to be something physical based on how she worded it, but he still dove in and started guessing at more and more absurd things until he went on in attempt just to make her blush. Halfway through listing sexual acts he _thought_ they’ve only done twice, Shireen shoved a pillow in his face.

“You know the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner you can wake up and figure it out,” she murmured, finally turning to him.

The blanket shifted off of her slightly, and Rickon went to put it back in place. He settled against her, moving down to dig his nose against her neck. “I guess,” he sighed, kissing and sucking at the soft skin there.

Shireen yelped, jerking away before slumping back against him. Leaving his wife to rest, Rickon simply stroked her hair, allowing her to be completely taken over by sleep even if he was still buzzing, just thinking of what it could possibly be.

Despite his eagerness, he woke up late. Rickon might not have woken at all if it wasn’t for Shireen sitting over his legs and running her hands up his sides. Slowly, he blinked up at Shireen, watching her hair fall forward over one shoulder as she slid her hands up to his ribs and back down to his hips.

“Good morning,” he mumbled, pushing up to his elbows. He waited for Shireen to come forward and kissed her, making her rhythm break as she stayed there. More of her hair fell down, only just brushing his stomach.

Shireen smiled at him, pulling back again. “Happy birthday,” she said, moving back to kiss him.

Rooting his weight, Rickon took her face in his hands. Shireen hummed against his mouth, moving her hands up to wrap around his neck. Rickon’s hands went down to her waist, pulling her back to the bed. “Is this my present?” he asked against her mouth.

Giggling, Shireen pulled away. “I’m _positive_ that we’ve had morning make-out sessions before,” she told him. “But it’s not the traditional birthday present.”

Rickon cocked his head to the side, raising an eyebrow at her. “There’s a traditional birthday present?”

“So I’ve been told,” Shireen said, pointedly looking away.

“What is it?” he asked.

Shireen cleared her throat delicately. “For married men, it’s typically a blowjob,” she said.

Rickon snorted. “I mean… we’ve definitely done that more than twice, but I’m not exactly going to refuse,” he said, toying with her hair.

Pursing her lips, Shireen pecked him gently. “Maybe we can keep tradition, too,” she said. Slowly, she pressed Rickon onto his back, moving over him and kissing him deeply. “But I still think you’ll like your other present more.”

Rickon seriously doubted his ability to enjoy anything more than he enjoyed being with his wife, but Shireen was willing to make it as difficult as possible. She dragged out their time in bed, working him over until he was completely left in a euphoric state. He didn’t want to move at all after that, trying to pull Shireen back and spend the remainder of the day asleep.

She was only a bit lenient, though. After bringing him breakfast in bed, Shireen forced Rickon to get dressed for a drive. Rickon followed after her, thinking that she deserved his cooperation at the very least. Regardless of how much he didn’t want to admit it, he was excited to figure out was. However, he was significantly less excited when Shireen pulled out a blindfold.

“Really?” he asked.

Shireen rolled her eyes, leaning her weight on one leg. Her hip jutted out like that, and Rickon placed a hand over the curve of it. Twisting her mouth around, Shireen leveled a look at him. “Well, it is supposed to be a surprise…”

With a sigh, Rickon conceded, allowing Shireen to tie the blindfold snugly over his eyes and lead him into the car. “So I take it I’m not driving?” Rickon asked, holding out his hands awkwardly to stop himself from crashing into the car door. He failed, feeling a sharp sting of pain in his thigh. “Goddammit.”

“I told you to wait for me!” Shireen called.

Rickon heard the rattle of car keys, and he was just waiting for the moment of magic when his other senses starting working in overdrive to make up for the loss of his eyes. It never came, and Rickon was just a little annoyed as he fumbled with the seatbelt. The other door opened and closed before small, soft hands shoved his out of the way and buckled him in. Another _click_ told him that Shireen was safe now, as well.

“Jeez, Shir,” he said, moving his head around even though he couldn’t see anything. “All this secrecy better be worth it.”

“Well,” Shireen said slowly, turning the engine over and starting the car, “it’ll at least make a great story.”

Rickon laughed, leaning back in his seat. He was hoping to be some kind of genius and figure out their location based on the turns or whatever. He was pretty sure he saw someone do it once in a movie. Unfortunately, the spirit of Sherlock Holmes granted him no favors, and Rickon remained utterly lost and bored for the entire trip. Soon, he busied himself, trying to find any possible weaknesses in the blindfold. Shireen definitely knew what she was doing, though. There was zero light penetration in the fabric, and he couldn’t even see down the bridge of his nose.

Finally, the car stopped. Immediately, Rickon went to remove the blindfold, but his hands were slapped away by his wife’s.

“You stop that,” she said sharply.

“But we’re already here!” Rickon complained, leaning in her general direction. “Do you know how much it sucks not being able to see?”

Shireen let out a huff of air, and Rickon knew the look she was giving him. “Just until we get inside, then.”

“Really?” he asked eagerly, taking off the seatbelt and trying to find the door handle.

“Well, you’ll probably figure it out by then,” Shireen said, getting out just as Rickon swore loudly again.

Rickon managed to get out of the car on his own after hitting his head three times and nearly slamming his fingers in the door. Then, Shireen took his hands and loosely pulled him after her. He peeled his ears for any sounds that would help, but everything sounded muffled. Something was trying to pierce his ears, but there was nothing. They paused for a small moment, before a door opened, and definite barking hit his ears.

“No fucking way,” he mumbled, reaching up and sliding the blindfold off. They were at the local pound, and a bunch of dogs of all breeds and sizes were around them. Most were jumping happily at the doors of their cages trying to get closer to him.

“Only one, though,” Shireen said firmly, taking the blindfold from his hands. He immediately stuck a finger into the cage of a puppy, letting the dog gnaw on it. “Seriously, Ric. We don’t have time to raise multiple dogs.”

Rickon turned to her with a half-pleading look. “But they need homes,” he said, pouting at her.

“ _One_ ,” Shireen repeated.

With a light groan, Rickon turned back to the dogs, greeting as many of them as possible. Eventually, someone who worked there came over, telling him which dogs were already adopted, and which would be great in homes. Shireen listened better than he did. Rickon was entirely preoccupied with petting all the dogs he was given permission to. Once Shireen realized that he wasn’t paying attention at all, she asked for them to be moved to a different room.

“Why aren’t we with the puppies?” Rickon asked, sitting on one of the two chairs available. He felt like he was entirely cheated of this experience, being forced away from the animals. “We can go back… I’ll listen, I promise.”

Shireen laughed at him. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, honey.”

The door to the room cracked open, and several puppies ran in at once. Rickon immediately went to the ground, letting them climb over his legs and torso. Half of them were trying to lick his face, and the other half was trying to tear new holes into his jeans. Rickon doted on all of them, letting Shireen tell him about the breeds of the dogs and which would be the best to adopt.

Once they were stuck on two puppies, an employee came in to take the others away. Rickon helped carry them out, sadly placing them back in their cages.

“What’ll happen with them?” he asked.

“Oh, they’ll probably be adopted soon,” the girl told him. “Puppies have it great. Everyone wants a puppy.”

A loud snarl came from behind them, and the girl jumped. Rickon looked around her to find the culprit: a small black dog with massive paws, baring his fangs at everything in the room. Kneeling down, Rickon hesitantly tried to stick a finger in the cage of the dog. He was pulled away before he could manage it, though.

“I wouldn’t do that,” she said, quickly snatching her hand away. “He may be a puppy, but his last owners were _awful_ , nearly abused the poor guy. He can’t really go to a home.”

Rickon furrowed his brow, turning back to the girl. “What’ll happen to him?”

The girl swallowed and tears pricked her eyes. “We’ll probably have to put him down.”

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Rickon turned back to the dog. The small bundle of black fur was intent on making his presence known, snarling loudly and glaring right back at Rickon with piercing green eyes. Standing up slowly, Rickon faced the girl squarely.

“I want him.”

“I-I’m sorry,” she said. “You can’t. We can’t even get him out of his cage…”

“What’s his name?” Rickon said, bypassing the question completely. He knelt down again, peering into the cage.

“Shaggydog,” the girl mumbled. “Really, we aren’t even supposed to let him out.”

“Turn around, then,” Rickon said, a little sharper than he intended. With a steady hand, Rickon opened the cage, swinging the door open. “Shaggydog?”

A bark came in response, and Rickon smiled. He slowly reached a hand out when the cage snapped shut.

“Hey!” he called, turning around and coming face-to-face with the owner of the pound.

The owner was a larger man, definitely muscled and not someone to be messed with. “The one’s off-limits,” he said firmly. “We’ve already scheduled to have him dealt with.”

“Well, un-schedule it,” Rickon said. “I want him.”

“We can’t do that, sir,” he said.

Around the corner, Shireen walked into the room, carrying the two remaining puppies. “You get distracted again?” she asked, pulling one of the dogs away from eating her hair.

Rickon walked over quickly, taking the puppies from Shireen and putting them back in their cages. She looked confused until he kissed her cheek and pointed down to a cage. “I want that one,” he said.

Crouching down, Shireen looked into the cage. A significantly weaker snarl came this time, and Shireen grinned, sticking her fingers into the cage before she could be stopped. The owner looked panicked, pulling her arm away and earning another sharp glare from Rickon.

“I’m sorry,” he said firmly. “But we cannot allow you to adopt that dog.”

“Why not?” Shireen asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

The owner sighed, pulling them into a different room. “That animal shouldn’t even exist,” he whispered softly, as if the dog would hear him and try to exact revenge. “His owners… they were trying to breed dogs with wolves, and they’re fiercely territorial. He bites everyone. We can’t get anyone to even _try_ training him. He won’t get his shots… It would be a disaster.”

Shireen and Rickon exchanged a look. Pursing her lips, Shireen turned back to the owner. “Well, we want him,” she said. “How much?”

“Ma’am, we can’t,” he said.

Rickon stepped forward, but Shireen held up a hand to stop him. “Look,” she said firmly. “We either do this the good and proper legal way, _or_ there might be worse things for you to handle in the morning than the euthanasia of an innocent animal.”

“W-we’re not going to _kill_ it,” the owner stuttered out.

Rolling her eyes, Shireen moved closer, crossing her arms for good measure. “No, you’re not,” she said evenly. “You’re going to let us pay adoption fees, and then we’re going to have a new dog to take home. Isn’t that right?”

\--

Rickon hefted up the plastic cage from the backseat, muttering apologies all the while. Nothing he said could stop the constant stream of growls coming from the cage, though. Even when it was placed on even ground, the growling never stopped. Rickon opened up the gate, trying to coax out the small dog.

“He’s only four months old,” Shireen said from the kitchen, reading over the papers she managed to get from the pound. “Apparently, he was found in a completely sealed cardboard box on the side of the road… _Shaggydog_ was scribbled on the side of the box…”

“He needs food,” Rickon said, pouring out some of the massive bag of dog food into a small bowl. “And water.”

Shireen poured another small bowl of water, handing it to her husband. She watched on as he nudged the containers inside the cage, sitting with his legs crossed off to the side of it. For a brief moment, the growling stopped. They were rewarded with the sound of slurping and sloshing, a sure sign that their dog was actually eating.

“I suppose we can set something up for him outside,” Shireen said, leaning down onto her knees. She had yet to see the dog in its entirety. They refused to take him out of the cage, and Shaggydog had yet to voluntarily leave.

“He needs to leave the cage first,” Rickon said, standing up slowly. “Maybe we can leave food out for him, see if he’ll go.”

“Well, someone needs to be here with him,” Shireen said. “What if he destroys the furniture?”

Rickon shrugged. “We can replace it.”

They ended up asleep on the couch together, both turned toward the cage where the newest member of their family kept hiding. Rickon’s arm was dangling off the edge, his other was fully tucked around Shireen. Sometime during the night, the brush of fur hit his fingers before a cold snout did. Waking just a bit, Rickon stretched out his fingers, stroking the ball of fur that settled under his hand. The cold sting of metal truly woke him, and Rickon leaned over Shireen to free his other arm.

He felt his way around the metal, feeling a silent growl growing in the dog again. He didn’t want to scare Shaggydog, but something about the metal was definitely triggering this. As gently as he could, Rickon found a clasp in the metal and it clattered to the ground. Immediately, Shaggydog bolted away. Climbing out from around Shireen, Rickon picked the metal up. He walked it to the kitchen and flicked a light on.

In his hand was a spiked choke collar. Even worse, the spikes of the collar with covered in blood clots and rust. Rickon felt bile rising up in his throat. A small snarl accompanied the feeling, and Rickon looked up. Bright green eyes were staring back at him. The defensive stance of the dog was easy to read, and Rickon realized that this was the ultimate cause of anger in the animal. Turning his back on the dog, Rickon walked over to the trashcan and tossed the collar away. Then, he went to wash his hands.

Once he was done, he found Shaggydog in the exact same spot as before. Shaggydog’s head was cocked to the side. Kneeling down a few feet away, Rickon presented his bare hands. “None of that,” he told the dog. “Never again.”

With slow steps, the dog came forward, sniffing over every inch of Rickon’s hands. He resisted the urge to try and pet Shaggydog, willing himself to stay absolutely still. Finally, Rickon was rewarded with the wet press of a hot tongue over his fingers. Shaggydog moved in between his cocked out knees, climbing over his legs just slightly. The demeanor of a puppy was back, and Rickon smiled as he scooped the dog up in his arms. Shaggydog licked at his chin, and Rickon carried him back over to the couch.

Placing Shaggydog near Shireen’s feet, Rickon let the dog climb over her legs, watching the puppy sniff at her and step everywhere experimentally. Rickon slid back down next to her just as Shaggydog settled on her chest, using her as his pillow. Shireen placed a hand over the puppy, coming to with a small jolt.

“It’s okay,” Rickon whispered, hushing her. “Shaggydog was just saying hi.”

“Oh,” Shireen breathed. She softly stroked over his fur, toying with his ears.

Glancing down, Rickon knew that she was being greeted with the same look he got earlier: piercing green eyes that shone in the dark. Even so, he hoped there was a little more kindness in them now.

“What happened?” she mumbled, looking up at Rickon.

He shook his head, pulling both his wife and his dog closer. “I’ll tell you later,” he said. “I think Shaggydog deserves his first night of good sleep.”

Nodding, Shireen cradled Shaggydog to her chest. Rickon moved an arm to support hers, letting his fingertips just brush the fur of the puppy. He felt the smallest flick of a warm tongue before he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.


	20. Chapter 20

“Hey, Rickon?” Shireen called across the house. She walked into the living room staring at her phone, looking rather confused.

“Yeah?” he called back, glancing up from where he was trying to get Shaggydog to sit on command. Barking was easy. He taught their dog to bark in one minute flat. Sitting was a completely different story.

Shireen took a seat on the back of the couch, gesturing for him to come over and look at her phone. Picking up Shaggydog, Rickon took the two of them over. Shireen rolled her eyes at him. “You’re going to make Shaggy think he’s a puppy like that,” she told him.

“He _is_ a puppy,” Rickon countered. He grabbed onto one of Shaggydog’s paw to wave it at her. Opening his mouth, Shaggydog tried to bite at Rickon’s hand.

“When he keeps jumping on you, you don’t get to complain,” Shireen said, crossing her arms.

Rickon looked confused. “Why would I complain?”

Shireen’s jaw dropped open, and she reached out for another of Shaggydog’s loose paws. He simply licked her hand. “Look at his paws, Rickon,” she said. “He’s going to be massive.”

Nodding, Rickon examined the dog’s paws. He nodded appreciatively. “Do you think he’s part mastiff?”

Shireen swatted at Rickon’s head. “He’s part wolf,” she reminded him. “Remember?”

“Oh, right,” he said. He shuffled Shaggydog in his arms before pointing back at Shireen’s phone with his chin. “So what were you going to ask?”

The confusion hit Shireen before she shook herself. “Oh. Yeah. Jon’s your cousin, right?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Rickon replied slowly.

“Okay,” Shireen said firmly. She loaded up a snapchat from Lyanna angling the screen so he could see it.

“Hold on,” Rickon said, bending down to put Shaggydog on the floor. “Why do you have Lyanna on snapchat? And why do you have a thirteen day streak?”

“Would you pay attention?” Shireen snapped at him. “Just look.”

She played the snapchat, letting Rickon see the slightly blurry image of Jon sitting in a restaurant across from a redhead. Rickon leaned in a bit further, narrowing his eyes to see the screen better. The snapchat ended, and he leaned back. “I could have sworn that Ygritte broke up with him.”

Shireen rolls her eyes again, shaking her phone. “That’s Sansa.”

“That’s Sansa?” Rickon asked, grabbing her phone. “Wait. Shit. You can’t play it again. Did you screenshot it?”

Pulling away, Shireen set Rickon with a concerned look. “Do you want to explain why your sister is maybe on a date with your _cousin_?”

“Robb owes me twenty bucks,” Rickon said, pulling out his own phone.

Snatching his phone away, Shireen snapped her fingers at Rickon. “Hello?” she asked loudly. “Explain the situation, maybe? I mean, I know that cousin marriage is _technically_ legal, but isn’t that a bit weird? Didn’t you grow up together?”

“What?” Rickon asked back. He looked massively confused before his eyes went wide. “Oh! _No_ , honey. Not… like, real cousins. We just call him that.”

Crossing her arms, Shireen leveled a new look at Rickon. She gestured for him to go on.

“Alright, so Jon is my dad’s godson,” he explained. “And his parents died, so we took him in. We call him cousin to make things less confusing, and he became Robb’s best friend anyway, so it really didn’t matter. But when we were little, there was this huge thing going around the house where first we thought Sansa had a crush on Jon, and then we thought Jon had a crush on Sansa, and then _Bran_ said that they were going to start dating.”

The expression on Shireen’s face just grew more confused. Rickon kissed her cheek before leaning back.

“The bottom line is: Robb owes me twenty bucks,” Rickon declared loudly. “Right, Shaggydog?”

The dog barked in return.

“If it was actually a date,” Shireen pointed out.

“True,” Rickon conceded. His eyes lit up. “I’ll text Lyanna.”

“Rickon!”

“What! I want my twenty dollars,” he said. “Robb lost, and he needs to know.”

“You can’t just out them!” Shireen insisted.

“Why not?” Rickon asked, reaching for his phone back.

Shireen tossed his phone away, giving him a disbelieving look. “Do you not remember when we were living together?” she asked. “And we didn’t tell everyone for very good reasons?”

Rickon matched her look. “They did not have a one night stand.”

“ _Technically_ , neither did we, husband,” she told him.

“True,” he agreed reaching for her hip. “So, _wife_ , how about we go do some research?”

Shireen held up a hand sharply. “You are not mixing sexy talk and spying on your family, right?”

“ _No_ ,” Rickon said. “We’re going to stalk them on Facebook.”

Nothing Shireen said could stop Rickon’s mission. In the end, it was much easier to play along and imbibe Rickon in his mission. She happily scrolled through Instagram while he read through all their Facebook posts from the last year. After he declared himself empty-handed, he caught Shireen on Instagram, immediately thanked her for her brilliant idea, kissed her, and then proceeded to scroll through their other social media accounts. It didn’t take long for Rickon to loudly declare his success.

“What did you find?” Shireen asked, rolling over in bed to look at Rickon’s phone.

Rickon proudly showed Shireen a picture of a cute white dog. Then, he moved over a few screens to show her another dog. Shireen scrunched up her face.

“We can’t adopt more dogs, dear,” she told him.

“They’re _already_ adopted,” Rickon pointed out, switching between the pictures. “The white one is Jon’s. The grey one is Sansa’s.”

“I’m sensing that you’re going somewhere with this,” Shireen said, shifting her weight up to her elbow.

Rickon grinned. “They got them on the same day,” he said. “Two days ago.”

“You must feel so proud,” Shireen said. She squirmed until she was over his chest, stretching up to kiss him. “And what are you going to do with this information?”

Grinning evilly, Rickon rolled Shireen over until she was pinned beneath him. With the most mischievous look in his eyes, he said, “Play date.”

Shireen rolled her eyes, reaching out for his phone. She scrolled through the Instagram posts, seeing that Jon and Sansa had been mutually liked the other posts and commented on the other’s pictures. As she was scrolling through them, a notification popped up with a text message from Lyanna.

“Honey,” Shireen said slowly, “what are you texting Lyanna about?”

“Um, would you believe me if I said nothing?” he asked.

“Rickon.”

“Jon paid,” he defended. “ _And_ he pushed in her chair for her. And, according to Lyanna, he looked a little awkward while doing it.”

Shireen stared at her husband, lightly handing back the phone. “What does that prove?”

Rickon shoved his phone under his pillow and rolled onto his side. Reaching out for Shireen’s waist, he pulled her closer. “Well, it sounds an awful lot like how I feel when I take you out on dates.”

“You still feel awkward pulling out my chair for me?” Shireen asked. “I can do it myself.”

“Not that,” Rickon said. “Just like, afraid I’ll do something wrong.”

“Darling, we’re married,” Shireen reminded him.

Rickon smiled, scooting closer and kissing her. “Yeah, you’d think I’d stop being nervous around my wife by now.”

Grinning back, Shireen slid her arms around Rickon’s neck. She pulled him down for a kiss and mumbled out, “If you promise not to spy on your family tomorrow, we can do something fun.”

“Your version of fun or my version of fun?” he asked.

“Both.”

\--

Shireen groaned, watching Shaggydog bounced off her lap as soon as someone knocked on the door. She had been enjoying her time just lounging around, so Rickon kissed her lightly before trying to coax Shaggydog into retrieving a pillow. He read about several dog training ideas and methods online, and he was trying to put them all into practice at once. He followed Shaggydog around with a pillow before opening up the door for Jon.

Jon walked with a dog at the end of a leash. The white puppy was roughly the same size as Shaggydog. The two greeted each other with a small amount of trepidation. Shaggydog barked once before tackling Jon’s dog. Panicking, Jon and Rickon both bent down to separate their dogs. Jon removed the leash before releasing his dog to go run outside.

“Hi, Jon,” Shireen called from the sofa. “How goes the pet ownership life?”

“It’s good,” Jon replied. “Ghost is… I think, the exact opposite of Shaggydog.”

Laughing, Shireen sat up. She glanced outside to where the two puppies were playing outside. She smiled to herself. “Maybe, all the Stark kids will get dogs. Wouldn’t that be funny?”

Jon chuckled. “You know, I think Sansa also just got a dog.”

“I know,” Rickon said from the kitchen, bringing out glasses of water. “I invited her over, too. Apparently, Lady is super well-trained.”

Jon blanched for the shortest second before he smiled. “Really?” he said. “Let’s hope they all get along.”

Rickon gave Shireen a knowing look as he went to command both the dogs through a few tricks. Jon barely managed to sip his water when another knock came from the door. Rickon jumped over to answer the door, catching Jon spill a small bit of water down his shirt. He shot Shireen a significant look before opening the door to his sister.

“Rickon,” she greeted, moving forward to hug him. She crouched down to release Lady, but the small grey dog stayed at her ankle until she beckoned her outside. Then, Lady pranced off. She crashed right into Shaggydog who was contentedly biting on Ghost’s ear. Smiling after her dog, Sansa finally stood up. When she saw Jon, her eyes went wide. “Jon?”

He shrugged. “Hi, Sans,” he said, giving her a small wave and nearly spilling his water again.

“Hi, Jon,” she greeted. Slowly, she stepped over, awkwardly holding out her arms and hugging him. Then, she turned to Shireen. “Hey, Shireen.”

“Hi,” Shireen said, standing up for a hug from Sansa. “Can I get you some water?”

“Sure,” Sansa breathed out.

Shireen walked into the kitchen, and Rickon followed her immediately. He leaned over her shoulder and hissed into her ear, “ _Sans_? She doesn’t let anyone call her that. And that hug?”

Hitting him away, Shireen pushed him toward the back door. “Go entertain the guests you invited over,” she commanded. “And don’t be weird about it.”

“But they’re getting along so well,” Rickon insisted. “See?”

Shireen glared at him, and he moved back into the other room. He invited them around the house, letting Sansa explain the decorations the she added and put up. After a while, he and Jon went outside, looking after the dogs and throwing some balls for them to fetch. Ghost and Lady were excellent at fetching. Shaggydog was so interested in holding as many things in his mouth as possible, it was the only way to get anything back from him. Jon laughed, but he did manage to properly teach Shaggydog to a few new tricks.

Rickon laughed along, letting Ghost and Lady climb all over him. Sansa rubbed a knuckle into her eye, smiling as Rickon encouraged Lady to jump on his chest.

“Oh, we really should have got him a dog sooner,” she mumbled. “He’s so happy.”

“Jon?” Shireen asked. “Or Rickon?”

“Rickon,” Sansa clarified quickly. She shook her head. “Not Jon. I mean… maybe Jon. But definitely Rickon.”

Shireen smiled at Sansa, leading her to the seats near the back door. “So Rickon will kill me if I don’t ask,” she started slowly. Sansa gave her a confused look, and she went on, “Are you dating Jon?”

Sansa sighed, looking up at the ceiling. “I would like to remind you that I covered for your one night stand—”

“We’re married,” Shireen interjected, pointing a finger at Sansa.

“Still!” Sansa shot back. “Just… let us figure it out first.”

Shireen hesitated. “So you _are_ dating?”

“Just… give us two weeks,” Sansa suggested. “It’s what Rickon got before he told everyone about you.”

“How did you—?”

“He called to ask me for suggestions about your first date,” Sansa said smugly. “I just assumed that it was you when he brought you to meet the family two weeks later. _Please_?”

Shireen slumped back in her chair, making a big deal about rolling her eyes. “I guess,” she groans out. “But if Jon slips to Rickon, all bets are off.”

“Deal.”

A few hours later, after eating pizzas for lunch and hanging around with their animals, Jon and Sansa finally left. Though, with their departure at the same time, Shireen had to drag Rickon from the window to keep him from spying on his sister. He spent a long time complaining that he had waited years to cash in on this bet, that all his hopes had nearly been thwarted when Sansa dated that biker dude and Jon was with his foreign girlfriend for so long.

“Sweetie,” Shireen said firmly, pulling him by his belt loops. “How long do you have until this bet hits any sort of deadline?”

Rickon thought for a moment, opening and closing his mouth a few times. “Until either of them were married,” he said, “ _but_ they could be dating at any time before then.”

“So… it all still counts in retrospect?” she asked, dragging her hands under his shirt. “Like… you could be on your deathbed, and Sansa can admit she dated Jon, and Robb would still owe you twenty dollars?”

“Did she say something to you?” Rickon asked, pulling away. He looked a bit overly-excited to be sneaking around his family and investigating rumors.

Shireen groaned loudly, leaning into him. “Do I just need to take off my shirt so you’ll listen to what I’m saying?”

Rickon froze, looking down at her. “Well, it would definitely help for about a minute.”

“And after that?” Shireen prompted, stretching up to kiss his chin.

“Well, I don’t really think you _need_ clothes,” Rickon said.

Shireen smirked at him. “And what if I told you I wasn’t wearing a bra?”

“How fast can you explain this other thing to me?” Rickon asked back.

“What other thing?” Shireen replied, stepping away. She managed to get into their bedroom before Rickon caught up to her. He grabbed her around the thighs, tossing her onto the bed and crawling after her. Shireen managed to keep his hands off her shirt for a long time, distracting him with kisses.

Rickon seemed intent on getting them as close to naked as possible. But when he finally got her shirt off, he grabbed a pillow to toss on her stomach. “You filthy liar,” he said. “Seriously?”

“It was hypothetical,” Shireen pointed out. “And now, you can have the pleasure of stripping me down yourself.”

“Fucking hells,” Rickon hissed out. He went back to kissing her into the mattress, letting his weight fall over her.

“Alright, so question,” Shireen asked sometime later, resting over his chest. “Is there any other sort of significance to Sansa and Jon dating?”

Rickon chuckled, stroking a hand through her hair. “Well, Mom’s going to freak,” he said. “And then the weird timer will start.”

“What timer?” Shireen asked.

“Grandchildren,” Rickon said, smirking at her.

“Oh,” Shireen breathed out. “But Marg is due in a few weeks. Isn’t that enough to placate your mom?”

Rickon shrugged. “Maybe, but considering that Robb was married before, that Bran and Jojen have been together forever, and how we just figured out that Arya and Gendry have been married for a while, I think she feels cheated.”

“I see,” Shireen mused, shifting up higher to look down at Rickon. “And when should _we_ have children?”

Rickon snorted. “You’re the one that’s going to end up pregnant,” he said. “So I think that’s your decision.”

“Then how many kids do you want?” she asked.

“Again, your decision,” he said. “I’m not the one with the uterus.”

Shireen laughed, stretching up to kiss him. “Ideally?”

“However many you want,” Rickon tried, kissing her back.

“I think that gives me far too much power,” she said.

“Well, I think you deserve it,” Rickon said. He rolled her onto her back to kiss her soundly. “Also, I trust you to be sensible about these things.”

Shireen grinned. “And this isn’t some weird sibling competition?”

“Like they’d be able to get any of us to willingly participate in something crazy like that,” he said. “Nah, it’s just you and me.”

“And hypothetical babies,” Shireen added on.

“And Shaggydog,” Rickon added.

“He better like any kids we have,” Shireen said.

Rickon rolled his eyes. “Are you kidding? He loves you. It’ll be fine.”

“Let’s train him first,” Shireen suggested. “Then, we can start trying.”

“Can we keep practicing?” Rickon asked.

Shireen laughed, pulling him back down. Rickon sunk down to his elbows, letting Shireen drag him around their bed. If anything, this just proved that he had fully entrusted his future to the right person.


	21. Chapter 21

With a small sound from deep in his ribs, Shaggydog bounded over Rickon’s legs before settling before Shireen and dropping the toy from his mouth. Shireen grinned, watching their dog nose at his toy to move it closer to her. Shireen reached for the toy before moving her hand away, causing Shaggydog to cock his head to the side.

“Sit,” she said firmly.

Shaggydog complied without hesitation.

“Down,” Shireen added.

The dog went to the ground, placing his snout between his paws. Then, he craned his neck up at her.

“Good boy,” Shireen said, reaching out to rub between his ears. In reward, she grabbed the toy and tossed it across the living room. Then, she turned to her husband. “I must say, you’ve done an excellent job training Shaggy.”

Rickon grinned at her, intercepting the dog on his way back, and making him fight for his toy back. “Pretty impressive, right?” he responded. “Especially since he didn’t want to leave his cage the first day…”

“Less impressive considering how much you spoil him,” Shireen said, crawling over to sit next to him. She slid her legs over his lap, making him lose the fight with Shaggydog.

“Well, he destroys most of his things within a few hours,” Rickon reminded her. “And we can’t just let him eat the rubber he chews off.”

“I suppose,” Shireen relented. She leaned onto his shoulder, raising a hand to rub at his chin.

Rickon turned into her, nudging her with his nose until he could kiss her properly. Then, he grabbed her by the hips to pull her onto his lap. Shireen squealed, making Shaggydog run over and sit on Rickon’s legs. Shireen steadied herself on Rickon’s shoulders, leaning down to kiss him back. Licking at her lips, Rickon let his hands wander, roaming up to her waist and digging into her sides.

Shireen let out a small sound, pulling away slightly. “We have work tomorrow, dear,” she told him. “We can’t just carry on like this.”

“I don’t mind being late,” Rickon replied, moving down to kiss her neck. “Besides, I rarely use my time off. We should take another vacation.”

“We should do that when _I_ have the time off,” Shireen said, stretching away just slightly. “And when I’m not maybe getting a promotion.”

“Oh really?” Rickon asked, finally distracted enough just to look up at his wife. “Something fancy with more time off, I hope?”

“Something I definitely won’t get if my husband keeps spoiling me with vacations,” Shireen shot back. She smiled at him, cuddling into his neck. “Though, I wouldn’t mind being spoiled by being carried to bed…”

Rickon laughed, moving Shireen off his lap. Then, he leaned down to remove Shaggydog from his legs. “It’s much harder with the two of you pinning me down,” he told her. Leaning down, he pulled Shireen to her feet. “But I can always offer free piggy back rides.”

Giggling, Shireen spun Rickon around and leapt onto his back. He adjusted to her weight quickly, shifting her up higher on his back. Burying a hand into his hair, Shireen turned him for a kiss that largely missed his mouth. Rickon laughed loudly, and Shireen contented herself with kissing at his neck until he sat on their bed and released her to the mattress. Smiling up at the ceiling Shireen waited for the inevitable fall of her husband beside her. Soon after his weight hit the bed, his arms were around her, drawing her closer to his chest.

With soft touches and easy movements, Rickon moved closer to Shireen, half-climbing over her on their bed. Even with her warning looks, Rickon carried on dropping kisses over her exposed skin. After a good, long while, Shireen rolled them over to kiss him deeply, thoroughly distracting him from his goal for the night. She eventually managed to get them settled for bed, but not without a lot of persistent distractedness from Rickon.

“You know, it sucks that we can’t carpool anymore,” Rickon huffed, rolling over and reaching for Shireen’s hand. He laced their fingers together, smiling at her. “I miss the extra time with you.”

“This better not be an attempt to get me to quit my job,” Shireen replied. She turned over to face him, staying firmly against her pillow.

Rickon scoffed. “That would be a terrible idea,” he said. “You love reading all those papers every day… and doing… stuff.”

Shireen laughed, scooting closer to her husband and kissing his chest. “I love you.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty great,” Rickon said to the ceiling, “but you should meet my wife. She’s amazing.”

“Is she?” Shireen asked back. “Tell me about her.”

“I’d rather kiss her,” Rickon said, craning his neck forward. He caught her mouth mid-laugh, and Shireen pressed against him. He moaned against her mouth, reaching out to find the curve of her hip and pull her closer. “Let’s just play hooky tomorrow and do this all day.”

Shireen rolled her eyes, pulling away and trailing her fingers down his chest. “You want to spend a full day making out with me?”

Rickon nodded in agreement. “Literally every day,” he said. “Amongst other things…”

“You and your _things_ ,” Shireen hummed out. She rolled back over and settled into her pillow. Immediately, Rickon curled around her back, pressing his lips to the dip of her shoulder. Shireen smiled, reaching for his hand and holding them gently in hers. “Is this part of it?”

“Everything is, honey,” Rickon assured her. “All for you.”

Relaxing into the bed, Shireen fell asleep with the weight of her husband against her.

She woke up less pleasantly, groaning with the incessant buzzing of both of their phones going off. Moving face-down in her pillow, she tried to command her husband with her muffled voice. “Turn it off. It’s not even the alarm.”

Rickon rubbed her arm, pushing himself up to locate their phones. He scrubbed at his face with his palm, wincing from the backlights and silencing them. He clicked at his screen for a bit before putting the phone down and returning to Shireen. She cuddled into his chest, but she refused to open her eyes.

“What happened?” she murmured, yawning in the early hour.

“Margaery’s in labor,” Rickon mumbled back. He fixed his grip on her to dull her reaction. “Or _something_ ,” he added. “Robb’s only just taking her to the hospital. There’s plenty of time for us to sleep.”

“Shouldn’t we go?” Shireen asked.

Rickon shrugged. “I mean, it might be a while, but if you want to ditch work, that would be great.”

“You just always want to ditch work,” Shireen mumbled, looking out through one eye to glare at him.

Wrapping her up tighter, Rickon nuzzled into her neck. He hummed out a low note before responding. “I’d rather ditch work for other reasons,” he said. Skimming his fingers over her stomach, Rickon drew up her shirt—his shirt, technically—and kissed her neck. “Because I’ve already got a great reason.”

“You’re going to get fired like this,” Shireen said, biting at his ear.

“Nah,” Rickon said, moving away. “You’d never let me ditch work.”

Shireen looked up in thought. “What about when _I’m_ in labor?”

Rickon pressed up onto his elbows, looking down at her. “Well, I’m not leaving your side, then,” he assured her. He leaned down to kiss Shireen. “Especially since you’re probably going to want to yell at me.”

Shireen giggled, pulling him down. She kissed at his face for the next few minutes, then settled into bed, waiting out their alarm before calling relevant family members and figuring out how things were going with Margaery. Robb proved to be impossible to talk to, and Rickon hung up on him, shaking his head at his phone before calling his parents.

“Robb’s freaking out,” he told Shireen. “I can’t understand anything he’s saying.”

Laughing, Shireen walked across the room to dress for the day. Rickon watched her go, talking to his dad very briefly before letting himself get dressed for the day.

“How are we doing on time?” Shireen called.

“Well, we can’t play hooky,” Rickon told her. “Well, we _can_ , but we don’t have to. There’s plenty of time. Apparently, Marg is still walking around just fine and hasn’t even yelled at anyone yet.”

Shireen smiled up at him, leaning in to kiss him full on the mouth. “Then, do you want to carpool today?” she asked. “So we can get to the hospital after we’re done?”

“Can I take Shaggy to work?” Rickon asked.

“You’re going to get fired like that,” Shireen reminded him. “I’ll call Myrcella to come check on him.”

Rickon whined at her for the rest of the morning, feeding into Shaggydog’s noise making until Shireen properly shushed the both of them. Shaggydog was only slightly more difficult to quiet than Rickon, who was easily managed with a few kisses. After a while, Shireen convinced Rickon to drive them to their respective workplaces and pick her up if anything happened. He promised to text her every thirty minutes with updates, even though she was already in constant communication with all the other Stark women.

The day passed slowly for Shireen. She stared at the clock incessantly, which was only excused after she explained that one of her family members was going to have a baby. This was met with a lot of happy explanations throughout the office, and a few questions about when she was going to have children of her own. Shireen brushed these off quickly, even though a few of her coworkers insisted that a year after marriage was plenty of time to wait.

“It’s only been six months,” Shireen reminded her. “And we still have a puppy to deal with.”

“Your dog is plenty trained from what I’ve seen,” Alysane told her. “And kids are such a joy.”

Shireen smiled down at her hands, twirling her pencil around. She briefly considered maybe bringing up that conversation again, but she might need another vacation before that. Giggling to herself, Shireen sorted through her paperwork again, wondering whether Rickon’s siblings had started a betting pool on the sex of Robb’s unborn child.

Meanwhile, Rickon idled through his day at work, checking his phone at every buzz. He got through work without complaints thanks to his department, and texted Shireen to pick her up the moment he was out. Shireen was waiting for him out on the curb, moving forward immediately to get in their car. 

“You ready for our date?” Rickon asked, leaning over to give her a kiss.

Shireen shoved him away, tucking her bag behind her feet. “Aren’t we just going to sit at a hospital and wait for Marg to have a baby?” she asked. “It’s not really a date.”

Rickon stalled, distracting himself with driving back into traffic. “Well… we can go get some food first?”

“And what if we miss the birth of your nephew?” Shireen asked back, leveling a look at him. “We just tell Robb, _sorry, out getting burgers_?”

“Yup,” Rickon replied. “And then, he’ll owe me twenty bucks.”

Shireen slumped back in the seat with a laugh. “Boy or girl?”

“Boy,” Rickon said firmly. “Obviously.”

Twisting her mouth, Shireen pulled out her phone, texting Sansa, _Does anyone know the sex of Marg’s baby?_

Within a few seconds, Sansa replied, _The doctor, maybe? My money’s on a girl :)_

“You Starks,” Shireen scoffed, putting her phone away.

“Hey!” Rickon shot back. “You’re one of us now. You gotta put your money somewhere.”

Laughing, Shireen reached over to tug one of his hands off the steering wheel. She traced the creases on his palm. “Can’t I just jump onto your wager?”

“Double or nothing?” Rickon asked. “Well, now we can’t win either way. Remind me to text Bran. He manages all the bets.”

Shireen looked out the window, watching Rickon pull into a burger joint. “What did Bran bet on?”

“He’s not stupid,” Rickon replied. “Boy, _obviously_. Jojen’s taking the opposite route, as always, but we all know that Bran knows everything.”

Laughing, Shireen followed Rickon into the restaurant. She hung onto his arm as he ordered for the two of them, and then she pulled him over to a seat. Reaching for their drink, Shireen watched Rickon idly drawing on the receipt with his nail. He caught her staring and stuck his tongue at her before going to retrieve their food. Several times, Rickon stole some of Shireen’s fries, making her retaliate and starting a mini battle for who could take the most fries from the other. Shireen’s strategized by taking Rickon’s fries and simply putting them in her own pile.

When her phone started buzzing a bit more often, she hit Rickon away to check her phone again. Before she could read any of the messages, a call came in from Arya.

“I see you made the right bet,” she greeted. “But Robb’s freaking out, and Marg isn’t even contained in a room yet. Speaking of which, when are you and Rickon getting here?”

“After our date,” Shireen replied, taking a deep drink. “He insisted that we go out.”

“And it’s great,” Rickon said loudly, licking his fingers clean.

“We’re going to head over right after,” Shireen added on, listening to sounds of the hospital in the background.

Arya laughed into the line. “Great,” she said. “Because I think her doctor is finally going to restrict her to bed.”

Rickon snagged the drink back, gesturing out the door to the car. Shireen gathered up the trash quickly, moving out of her seat and reaching out with her mouth so Rickon could give her a final drink before throwing the cup away. Arya hung up after muttering something that sounded like _teenagers_ , making Shireen laugh before pocketing her phone. 

Rickon hooked an arm over her shoulders. “What’d she say?” he asked.

“She called us teenagers,” Shireen told him.

“Oh, did she?” Rickon asked. He slid his hand to her waist, pulling her closer. “So can we be late because we’re making out?”

“Is that what you think teenagers do?” Shireen asked back. “Just make out all the time?”

Rickon looked up in thought. “We can do other things, too,” he said. “I’m not opposed to it.”

Shireen laughed loudly, pulling Rickon back to the car. They drove to the hospital with teasing japes and even more touches in attempt to distract each other. By the time they got to the hospital, they were both giggling madly. Rickon had to try tickling Shireen just to get her far enough away to calm down. She crashed back into his side, hugging him as they walked into the room that was flooded with other Starks.

“Did she pop yet?” Rickon asked, glancing over to Bran.

“Can’t start calling Mom a grandma yet,” Bran confirmed, “but getting closer to it.”

“Hey!” Catelyn called over. “I’m still your mother.”

“And soon-to-be a grandmother,” Sansa said, glancing up from her phone. “You can’t even pretend you’re not excited. You’ve been talking about having grandkids since Rickon’s wedding.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Rickon put his hands up, stepping away from his family. “Do not get me involved in your shenanigans, or I will steal my wife and move across the world.”

“Excuse me?” Shireen asked, turning to him.

Rickon leaned forward to kiss her. “I’m not leaving you,” he said. “But I’m not falling into the weird timed trap of having kids because of these people.”

“Make it Arya’s problem,” Jojen suggested. 

“Hey!” Arya shouted across the room.

Sansa shook her head, putting her nose in her phone to avoid the conversation. Rickon almost rounded on her, dragging her in, but Shireen smacked his arm to keep him away. The conversation had a hard time changing, particularly with the continuous checks on Margaery. Robb scarcely came out, and they found out that Loras was also trapped with his sister, leaving Renly to be the middle man running back and forth with updates.

By the time the baby was born, Bran had collected all the money for the bets, and most of the women were preoccupied with what happened. Rickon was just sitting with Shireen on his lap, playing with her hair, and he only tugged on it slightly when Renly came in yelling out, “I’m an uncle! I’m an uncle!”

While the other Starks jumped up to go see Margaery, Shireen just scoffed and sat back against Rickon’s chest. “You’re _my_ uncle,” she reminded him. “But _I’m_ an aunt now.”

“That makes us sound old,” Rickon muttered, kissing her neck.

She yelped, pulling away from him to follow the rest of their family and check on the baby. Rickon grabbed onto her hand, letting Shireen lead him into the room with Margaery. She was sitting up, smiling down at a bundle of blankets in her arms. Robb was sitting at her side, gently reaching out for the small baby in her arms.

“Is anyone else annoyed that the blanket is purple?” Arya mumbled, earning herself a sharp jab from Gendry.

“Shut up and take my twenty,” Robb shot out quickly. He immediately turned back to the baby, leaning over to kiss Margaery’s forehead. Then, he carefully moved his arms over Margaery’s to take the baby. “And everyone can say hello to our little Rickard.”

Sansa squealed, jumping over to stroke the baby’s cheek. Congratulations were passed around more than the baby was, much to Robb’s insistence that no one was allowed to put his child in danger. Only Catelyn was allowed to carry the baby, and Shireen edged over to say hi after the rest of their family had gotten their time with him. She reached out for his hand, trying to coax him into grabbing her finger. Rickon watched over her shoulder, staring at the look of wonder on her face.

They eventually made it out and back home, again at the insistence of Robb. He demanded that they give Margaery time to rest and recover. Rickon drove home in mostly silence, trying to think about how all his familial interactions were about to change. Shireen led them into their nightly routine, letting Shaggydog out to run and changing into pajamas before going to brush their teeth. As usual, Shireen stayed in front of the mirror, watching Rickon struggle with reaching around her to manage himself. They still finished at about the same time, fighting for the water to rinse their mouths. Then, Shireen turned around for a kiss from Rickon that he gave.

Rickon tossed his toothbrush down into the cup next to Shireen’s, thoroughly relaxed in the comfort that this simple mundane task. It was far too easy to think about doing this every night, even with Shaggydog and children running around, to know that they always had somewhere to be. Even with however chaotic things might become with kids, they would always have each other and that would always be enough.

“You get lost, buddy?” Shireen called, sneaking a look around the door.

Rickon shook himself, flicking off the lights and walking into Shireen. He lifted her into his arms, kissing her soundly and walking them to bed. “I can’t be lost,” Rickon said. “Not when I have you.”

Shireen smiled at him, giving him another kiss. “And what’d you think about the baby?”

Trying to shrug offhandedly, Rickon placed Shireen on their bed. “I mean, it’s just a baby,” he said. “But it was pretty cute, I guess.”

“Just _pretty cute_?” Shireen asked.

“Well, it’d be way cuter if it was ours,” Rickon said. He nudged her over to her side of the bed before climbing up after her.

“You want a baby?” Shireen asked, rolling over to hug him.

Rickon stared down at her, stroking her hair away from her face. “Your decision, honey,” he said. “But I’m not entirely opposed to it… do _you_ want a baby?”

Shireen grinned at him. “Not now,” she said, stretching up to kiss his chin. She aimed another kiss higher, catching his mouth. “But… eventually.”

“Alright,” Rickon said, hugging her tight to his chest. He dug his nose into her hair, blowing out hot air directly onto her scalp and making her squeal.

Shireen pushed herself away from her, trying to stop him from doing it again. However, Rickon grabbed her by the waist and put his mouth on her neck, blowing out hard to make a series of noises against her neck. Shireen simply squeezed him closer, stopping the sound altogether, but it took a long while before they stopped laughing enough to go to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not a very maternal person, hence the massive delay on this update. Also, I just tend to be the kind of person who doesn't particularly like reading about the unknown next generation in fanfic, which is why this took me six weeks to write.  
> Does anyone share these feelings? Or I am just thinking too much about how this story is going?
> 
> Also, friendly reminder that [Rickeen ship week](http://frozensnares.tumblr.com/post/147671871751/frozensnares-frozensnares-the-votes-are-now) is coming up! and it's also where a lot of my writing efforts have been going, so get ready for it!


	22. Chapter 22

“Um, excuse me,” Rickon said pointedly. “What is _that_?”

“Nothing,” Shireen blurted out, putting her arm behind her back.

Rickon switched the leash over to his other hand and reached out behind her back. Shireen stretched out her hand to keep it from his reach, trying to tap at the screen with her available thumb. Rickon pressed against her shoulder. He was trying to get closer while Shaggydog was pulling him forward relentlessly.

“Lemme see,” he said. “You better not be doing work right now.”

Shireen rolled her eyes. “I am not,” she said, pulling her phone back. “I was just going to take a picture to send on Snapchat.”

Rickon took quick steps forward to catch up with Shaggydog. “Oh, really?” he asked. He started walking backwards to keep looking at her. “With so much focus?”

“I had to pick the right filter,” Shireen said. “And it’s hard to do with gloves on. Shaggy, come!”

The dog responded immediately to her call, walking straight up to her and nosing at her hands. Shireen knelt before him, fiddling with his collar to release the chain. Shaggydog started pawing at the snow, trying to jump away.

“Stay, boy,” Rickon said, earning himself a look from the dog.

Shireen giggled, pulling out a ball from her pocket. “Ready?” She could see the anticipation in the dog, but held it out for a moment before throwing it over his head with a quick, “Fetch!”

Shaggydog sprinted through the snow, trying to grab the ball as he went. He missed completely, getting a mouthful of snow. On a loop around, he finally grabbed the ball and went to drop it between Rickon’s feet, nudging it forward with his snout.

“See?” Rickon said. “He likes me better.”

“He likes that you throw the ball farther,” Shireen said, moving into his side. “Now, let’s take a picture.”

Rickon threw the ball as far as he could before wrapping an arm around Shireen and pulling her close. “Does Snapchat still have the filter with the giant glasses?” he asked. “I should get giant glasses.”

“You don’t need glasses,” Shireen pointed out. Still, she slid over the filter and snapped the picture. In between bouts of throwing the ball for Shaggydog to retrieve, they took more pictures in the snow.

“Oooo, let’s do this one,” Rickon said, clicking on the filter that elongated his face. “I’m like a conehead.”

“Ew,” Shireen said through her giggles. She tried to pull the phone away, but he snapped the photo and sent it off.

Rickon handed her phone back with a confused look. “Hey, is Wylla okay?”

Shireen looked down at her phone. “I’m not sure.”

“You have streaks with everyone else but her,” he said. “What’s wrong?”

Shireen slid the phone into her pocket, twisting her mouth around. With an exasperated sound, she pulled it out again, opening up her conversation with Wylla. “I’ve been sending her snaps and messages… texting her… I called her a few times,” Shireen scrolled backwards through the conversation, showing Rickon all the unopened messages. “She’s been completely missing.”

Rickon frowned. “She’s taking the breakup harder than I thought,” he said. “I mean, she can do way better than Wex. I should have Pod ask her out.”

“Don’t do it like that,” Shireen said. “She just needs to respond so we can take her out.”

Rubbing at her shoulder, Rickon stole Shaggydog’s leash from her. “Give her some time,” he said. “They were pretty serious, and it ended poorly.”

“Oh really?” Shireen asked. “Did you get details? Because I had to find out through her Instagram story…”

After clipping Shaggydog’s leash back on, Rickon pulled Shireen forward and kissed her cheek. “Wylla’s going to be fine,” he said. “Now, let’s get home before we freeze to death.”

Shireen took Rickon’s hand and let him lead her back to their house. They shook off all the snow on the doorstep and stripped out of their slightly damp clothes in the threshold. Rickon snagged the nearby blanket, wrapping them both in it and walking with Shireen into the kitchen.

“What should we make for dinner?” he asked. His arms were still firmly locked around her. It trapped a significant amount of heat in, but it didn’t allow much space for movement.

Shireen turned around to face him in the small amount of space. “Like this?” she asked. “We will actually burn the house down.”

Rickon scoffed and continued walking to the fridge. “It’s just a challenge.”

Ducking away, Shireen tried to escape his grasp. However, Rickon dove at her to keep her completely trapped.

“You can’t!” he called. “It’s dangerous! You’ll freeze!”

“Rickon, I own a sweater,” Shireen said, struggling to move away. “Now, free me.”

“Never!”

“Shaggy!” Shireen called.

The dog barreled into their legs, effectively knocking them both to the ground. Though they were a tangled mess of arms, blanket, and dog, Shireen spared little effort to get Shaggydog to sit entirely on Rickon so she could make her escape. She quickly ran off to their bedroom in search of a warm sweater and some slippers.

When she got back to the kitchen, Rickon was still trapped under Shaggydog’s weight. He was trying to reach up for the remote control that was just out of reach on a nearby table. Shaggydog was lying down, wagging his tail happily and being completely useless.

“Good boy,” Shireen said, rubbing his ears and placing the remote at Rickon’s side. “What would you like for dinner?”

Rickon turned on the television, absently petting his dog. “Is that even a question?” he asked back. “We still have dino nuggets.”

Shireen shook the box as she pulled it out of the freezer. “With a side of eggplant lasagna?”

“Oooo… freshly made?” Rickon asked, craning his neck to look at her. “Extra sauce, please! I will grate the cheese if you bring me the materials.”

“Deal,” Shireen said. She threw the chicken nuggets into the oven before pulling out all the materials for eggplant lasagna and setting them out on the counter.

“So they’re showing Castaway, but there is also a Harry Potter marathon on,” Rickon announced.

Shireen gave him a look that Rickon met from the floor.

“You’re absolutely right,” he said. “Why would I even ask?” He changed the channel and left the Quidditch match on the screen as he put forth a larger attempt into removing Shaggydog from his body. He grasped onto a toy that was hidden under the couch and threw it a short distance away, but Shaggydog didn’t move.

Shireen put the eggplant to roast in the oven with the chicken nuggets. “He’s trained, you know,” she reminded her husband. “You did that, too.”

“Fine,” Rickon said. “Up, Shaggy.”

Immediately, the dog responded. He got to his feet and quickly roamed the kitchen, sniffing at the ground for any fallen treats.

“Shaggy,” Shireen warned. The dog took a few steps back. “Go to your pillow.”

Shaggydog quickly went across the room and fell down on all fours on his pillow. He looked up expectantly, but Shireen was busy cooking up some ground meat in a pan. Huffing out a breath of air, the dog set to tearing up his rawhide bone.

“My hands are clean, and I am ready to work!” Rickon announced, bouncing into the kitchen.

“Go put shoes on,” Shireen said. She didn’t even turn around. She could hear his feet slapping against the tiles. “You’re going to catch a cold.”

Rickon looked scandalized. “I can’t trap my feet.”

“Slippers,” Shireen offered.

“Fuzzy socks,” Rickon said, backing out of the room. He was back a moment later with a ridiculous pair of polka-spotted fuzzy socks on his feet. He looked around at everything, when the timer went off. Without bothering to ask for instructions, he went to flip the eggplant over. They had down this before.

It was an easy matter. They layered the lasagna in turns, adding absurd amounts of cheese and sauce to the dish while they started snacking on the chicken nuggets. Occasionally, they’d quote lines of the movie at each other in fake British accents, attempting to mimic the actor’s voices.

They settled in together for the night after eating their fill and cleaning up their dishes. Rickon tossed a few toys about the room for Shaggydog to retrieve while Shireen badgered him about the poor representations of character in the films. He agreed with her, but he didn’t have nearly as much energy as she did to keep the conversation running. Luckily, Shireen was willing to debate with herself, and Rickon nodded off with her against his chest.

\--

Shireen sorted through her work calendar. She was trying to balance out meetings and deadlines for the next month, but a new project had just been shoved in. There was a difficult matter of shoving things around and getting several more people working for it.

“Why on earth would we ever give out this deadline?” Shireen asked. She crossed out yet another note on her calendar. “This is a horrible choice.”

“You’re the one who wanted to work in the contacting and distributing sector,” Alysane said, leaning back in her chair. “Should’ve gone for line editing like me.”

Shireen scoffed. “As much as I would love to read all those books before publication, this is much less stressful,” she said. She flicked a page over and skimmed the lines for a detail. “Scheduling is really not that bad, and I still get to sift through query letters, which I prefer.”

Alysane rolled her eyes. “Yuck,” she said. “How many super special love triangles do you get to read about… with the injected vampire connected special love?”

Laughing, Shireen spun around her in chair. “While those plots are a bit difficult to get through, they’re unfortunately what some agents are looking for,” she said. She triumphantly held up a sheet of paper filled with scribbles and lines all over it. “Schedule complete. And I’m just waiting for the day when I get to choose books to represent, so I can snag all those lost gems.”

“Shireen, no one will be able to read that paper,” Alysane said. “You destroyed it.”

“I’m going to make a new copy,” she said. She pulled out her phone, looking at a message from Rickon.

 _Shaggydog misses me_ , he wrote. _I should go home immediately._

Rolling her eyes, Shireen typed up a response. _Finish your work_.

 _But my wife misses me, too,_ he responded. _We should ditch work tomorrow._

 _No, we shouldn’t._ Shireen spaced out her texting between typing out a clean version of the new calendar. She quickly took a picture of the marked up paper to send to him. _I’m very busy._

She nearly finished up the document when Rickon responded again.

 _When do you get a long weekend? I wanna go to the amusement park._

_Also, Robb wants us to babysit tonight. You down?_

Shireen grinned at her phone. While she spent plenty of time helping Margaery out with little Rickard, she knew that there were ulterior motives guiding her. Still, Shireen liked spending time with the baby, and it did make her want her own.

 _Definitely_ , she said. _Do you think he’s big enough to ride Shaggy?_

Rickon sent back a bizarre series of emojis and punctuation marks. Shireen couldn’t decipher them, but she knew that she’d learn the meaning of them soon enough.

\--

“He’s like a cowboy!” Rickon called out. He was helping Rickard sit up on top of Shaggydog’s back, following them around so the baby didn’t fall. Even though Rickard was strong enough to hold up his own weight, Shireen wasn’t willing to risk any accidental falls.

“You keep him safe,” Shireen said from the couch, watching them parade around. “I will not have any injuries in this house.”

Rickon laughed, snatching his nephew and throwing him up in the air. “He’ll be fine. I was dropped plenty of times as a kid.”

Shireen slumped down, shaking her head. “That explains so much.”

Rickon continued spinning Rickard around, before letting him crawl and waddle around to his toys. They’d secured all of Shaggydog’s things away to minimalize the chances of Rickard putting any of them in his mouth. He was going through a bout of extreme curiosity, and Shireen was worried about everything being a danger to the child. Rickon only had a mild level of concern. He simply followed Rickard around on all fours, ready to stop him from toppling over or hitting his head on anything.

Shireen sat back as they wandered the room. Rickon had a habit of talking to the child as if he was an adult. She listened as he posed philosophical questions to the kid and waited patiently for Rickard to make some kind of babbling response. It seemed to be a full conversation happening, but Shireen only got the information from one side of it.

He walked back into the room with Rickard on his shoulders. He had two plates of food in his hands, setting them down on the coffee table.

“Rickon!” Shireen reprimanded. “You have to hold on to him!”

“I really don’t,” Rickon said, going back to the kitchen to retrieve drinks. “He’s got a firm grip. I might be missing a couple chunks of hair when this is done.”

Shireen laughed, getting up from her seat. “Don’t forget about forks.”

“I won’t,” Rickon said. They crossed paths on the next bout.

In the kitchen, Shireen quickly prepared a bottle for Rickard. It was a good thing he had learned to hold it up on his own, but Shireen still kept him in her lap while they ate.

“He probably wouldn’t even like Dornish food,” Rickon said offhandedly. “Should we let him try some?”

“Do you want to be responsible for introducing him to allergens?” Shireen said.

Rickon nodded. “Good point.” He addressed the baby. “You’re going to have to wait for your parents to take that leap, but we’ve got movies running all evening.”

Rickard was too preoccupied with his bottle to respond. Rickon didn’t take it personally. He simply finished up his food and took them to wash while Shireen coddled the baby. They had no issues watching after Rickard, especially because he wasn’t a particularly troublesome infant. It was an easy evening that they managed perfectly well.

Before it became horribly late, Robb and Margaery returned for their child. Shireen handed Rickard off to Margaery while Rickon helped Robb take all of Rickard’s things back.

“Not a hassle was he?” Robb asked.

Rickon snorted. “He’s perfectly spoiled into good behavior,” he said. “You better cut back so he doesn’t turn into a brat like some other first-born I know.”

“I will hurt you,” Robb threatened.

“Those words don’t sound good coming out of a father’s mouth,” Rickon shot back. “You better watch yourself, or I’ll have to tell Marg on you.”

Robb rolled his eyes, going to snatch his son away from his wife. He set to get Rickard completely buckled into his car seat, and Margaery turned to him with a smile.

“He’s a complete joy, isn’t he?” she asked. “Thanks so much for looking after him. I asked Sansa first, but she had some prior engagements.”

Rickon nudged Shireen. She waved him off.

“We were more than happy to do it,” Shireen said. She leaned in closer to Margaery. “It’s good practice for him.”

Margaery laughed, spinning around to get in the car. “Maybe I’ll call on you first next time!”

“Call Arya!” Rickon suggested. “She could use it.”

Margaery gave him a flippant wave out of the window. They watched as she turned in her seat coo at her baby.

Rickon wrapped an arm around Shireen, steering her back inside. Shaggydog greeted them as if they had been missing for days instead of a few minutes. Shireen eased him down and stretched out on the couch.

“So, is it safe to guess that Margaery’s trying to butter us up for kids of our own?” Rickon asked, sitting next to her feet.

“She’s been trying since Rickard was born,” Shireen told him. “Or haven’t you noticed?”

Rickon hummed, leaning over her. “Well… what do you think, then?”

Shireen feigned thought. “I think that I’d like to ride rollercoasters a few more times before I’m not allowed to for forty weeks.”

Rickon laughed. “I’m okay with that.”

“It _will_ probably take a while, though,” Shireen said. “After all, who knows how long that will take?”

“I think we should ask a doctor,” Rickon said. “For safety.”

“Sure,” Shireen said. “For safety.”

Rickon pulled their blanket off the back of the couch, tossing over the both of them and snuggling against Shireen. She stroked his hair, while he flipped through the channels on television, looking for something they could watch.


End file.
